Social Security Overpayment Relief Act

This bill sets a 10-year time limit on the government’s ability to take back Social Security or SSI money that was paid by mistake. If the Social Security Administration finds an error, it could not collect overpayments that happened 10 or more years earlier. This includes stopping the practice of lowering future monthly checks to repay those old mistakes .

Key points:

• Who is affected: People who receive Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
• What changes: The agency can’t recover overpayments that are 10+ years old once the error is found, including by reducing future benefits to collect them .
• When: If enacted, this rule would apply going forward to overpayments discovered by the agency that are at least 10 years old.