Social Security says it will restart clawing back 100% of overpayments to beneficiaries

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21. Many overpayments occur when people don't report changes such as working more

There are earnings limits for both regular SS under a certain age and disability SS as well as Supplemental Security Income. When govt catches up with the unreported earnings, often a year or more has elapsed. Also SSI has many other eligibility factors such as other income and resource limits including parents' income and resources for disabled children as well as living arrangements that affect payment. Recipients often fail to report changes in their circumstances and by time SSA does annual reviews or finds out through matching data discovery, big overpayments may have occurred. In case of both SSA and SSI, unreported marriages can also reduce or stop benefits due.

But with years of downsizing and hiring freezes, more errors in computations are inevitable and it can take much longer for SSA to process reports of changes and review eligibility which increases length of time recipients are being overpaid.