WASHINGTON (AP) — People with old Social Security debts are getting a reprieve — for now.
The
Social Security Administration had been participating in a program in
which thousands of people were having their tax refunds seized to recoup
overpayments that happened more than a decade ago.
On Monday,
Acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn W. Colvin said she was
suspending the program while the agency conducts a review.
Social
Security recipients and members of Congress complained that people were
being forced to repay overpayments that were sometimes paid to their
parents or guardians when they were children.
The Social Security Administration says it has identified about 400,000 people with old debts. They owe a
total of $714 million.
So far, the agency says it has collected $55 million, mainly by having the Treasury Department seize tax
refunds.
Colvin
said she was suspending the program "pending a thorough review of our
responsibility and discretion under the current law to refer debt to the
Treasury Department."
"If any Social Security or Supplemental
Security Income beneficiary believes they have been incorrectly assessed
with an overpayment under this program, I encourage them to request an
explanation or seek options to resolve the overpayment," Colvin said.
The
program was authorized by a 2008 change in the law that allows Social
Security and other federal agencies, through the Treasury, to seize
federal payments to recoup debts that are more than 10 years old.
Previously, there was a 10-year limit on using the program.
In most cases, the seizures are tax refunds.
The Washington Post first reported on the program.
Democratic
Sens. Senators Barbara Boxer of California and Barbara Mikulski of
Maryland complained about the program in a letter to Colvin.
"While
this policy of seizing tax refunds to repay decades-old Social Security
overpayments might be allowed under the law, it is entirely unjust,"
the senators wrote.
After Colvin’s announcement, Boxer said in a
statement, "I am grateful that the Social Security Administration has
chosen not to penalize innocent Americans while the agency determines a
fair path forward on how to handle past errors."
There are several
scenarios in which people may have received overpayments as children.
For example, when a parent of a minor child dies, the child may be
eligible for survivor’s benefits, which are often sent to the surviving
parent or guardian.
If there was an overpayment made on behalf of the child, that child could be held liable years later, as
an adult.
Also,
if a child is disabled, he or she may receive overpayments. Those
overpayments would typically be taken out of current payments, once they
are discovered.
But if disability payments were discontinued
because the child’s condition improved, Social Security could try to
recoup the overpayments years later.
"We want to assure the public
that we do not seek restitution through tax refund offset in cases when
the debt in question was established prior to the debtor turning 18
years of age," Social Security spokesman Mark Hinkle said in an email.
"Also, we do not use tax refund offset to collect the debt of a person’s
relative. We only use it to collect the overpaid benefits the person
received for himself or herself."
Hinkle said the debt collection
could be waived if the person was without fault and repayment would
"deprive the person of income needed for ordinary living expenses or
would be unfair for another reason."
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