Hi Larry,

I have a question about Social Security overpayments. I'm 64 yrs. old and have been receiving Social Security Retirement benefits since the beginning of 2016. In August of that same year, I received a lump-sum settlement from an ex-employer. This was the result of a wrongful termination grievance filed by my Union. I was terminated in September of 2015. The monies were reported to the IRS by my ex-employer as wages. I received a W-2 for same.

Social Security says they overpaid me in 2016 and I owe them. I filed a request for reconsideration with SSA. I received a notice from SSA several months later advising me of their intent to recoup the debt by witholding my monthly benefits for a year. They have began holding back my benefit payments to settle the debt. What should I do next? Thanks.

Hi,

It certainly sounds like your settlement should be excluded from counting as 2016 earnings in your case. Hopefully, you submitted all of the details about this payment to Social Security when you filed your request for reconsideration.

It sounds like you should get in touch with Social Security to make sure that your reconsideration request is still pending. Assuming that you filed your request timely, Social Security should delay recovery of the alleged overpayment until a determination is made on your request. However, if they've already initiated recovery you'll need to contact them and ask to have your payments resumed pending a determination on your appeal.

Best, Jerry