Need To Strengthen Social Security's Beneficiary Reporting Requirements and Enforcement Authority

GAO reported on federal retirement overpayments to determine what portion of overpayments are caused by beneficiaries and how effectively the Social Security Administration (SSA) utilizes its sanctions to prevent and minimize improper reporting.

GAO found that, as of September 1984, retired and disabled beneficiaries and their dependents or survivors owed SSA about $2 billion, which represented about 1.4 million overpayments. About 60 percent of such overpayments, constituting two-thirds of all overpaid dollars, were caused by beneficiaries who misreported, reported late, or did not report events that would have reduced or eliminated benefits. Although most overpayments were refunded to the government, a small portion of funds were retained because SSA did not often use existing penalty authority, or the authority did not extend to all incidents that gave rise to beneficiary-caused overpayments. GAO believes that, although some overpayments cannot be avoided, most could be avoided or reduced if compliance procedures were better enforced.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Joseph F. Delfico Team: General Accounting Office: Human Resources Division Phone: (202) 512-7215