Social Security Administration Resumes Treasury Offset Program Collections After COVID-19 Suspension
Reading Time: 1 MinuteLast Updated: April 18, 2025
The Social Security Administration (SSA) today announced the immediate resumption of debt collection activities through the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) for debts accrued prior to March 2020. This decision comes after a suspension of collections due to the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Treasury Offset Program, administered by the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service, is a centralized program designed to collect delinquent debts owed to federal and state agencies by intercepting Federal and state payments. Since 1992, SSA has referred delinquent Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) debts to TOP as mandated by law.
Prior to the suspension in March 2020, SSA had successfully collected almost $2 billion in previously unrecoverable delinquent debt through TOP. The program is essential for maintaining the integrity of the OASDI and SSI programs.
“Resuming collections through the Treasury Offset Program is a critical step in our commitment to being good stewards of taxpayer funds and ensuring the integrity of our programs,” said Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “We are dedicated to recovering overpayments while providing individuals with the necessary information and options to address their debts.”
The Department of Treasury has begun collecting debts SSA referred to Treasury before March 2020, impacting an estimated 280,000 individuals with a collective debt balance of $2.7 billion.
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Laney
I’m completely comfu8and afraid. We continue to see this information in the news, on websites, and blogs.
What is the true outcome of the plan that’s in place. That’s the real question on the table for me. My over payment came about as a result from the IRS and my 2022 tax return. The amount they are stating I made is totally incorrect. I’ve been trying to communicate with the IRS in an effort to get this corrected. However, that is an impossible task. I am committed to getting this right. Instead of bowing down and paying back what I don’t owe.
Jacqueline D.
I’m not sure at the commissioners read our comments, but they should take notice of the elderly and disabled go through being on Social Security or SSDI. My biggest problem is they can take our money every week out of our checks they put it in the trust fund that collects interest when you work for 40 some years our money is being calculated and gaining interest and then you can’t get the help that you need because you make too much money according to the state laws trying to get any type of benefits or assistance when you need it. My problem is the state I live in they want to control my health and take me off put me on take me out put me on like this is a game we’re playing with our health they don’t even know their own laws when it comes to the state this is why everything is so screwed up and then borrowing our money I don’t want to pay it back but yet they want to garnish our wages when they owe us money as it is they have no right taking more money from us because they have incompetent workers that don’t know how to run Social Security or Medicare and they mess it up but then we get blamed because they don’t know how to calculate. If they make the mistake it’s not our problem it’s their problem Don’t take it out on us because they don’t know how to run their programs. During the COVID, President Trump addressed the self-employed individuals that were able to work but had to put everything on hold because of quarantine and so he said that we were entitled to get unemployment benefits will when you fill out your unemployment benefits with the state they my state wasn’t geared up to handle federal they made so many errors so many mistakes they didn’t even know what they were doing because they were so overwhelmed with the numbers coming in people that were trying to file for unemployment but you don’t deny an individual that has all the evidence right there in front of them showing self-employment schedule C’s how much you made what’s your entitled to for unemployment everything according to law was in place. Well nobody reprimands The state especially Tennessee that denied me my unemployment in extra money because I didn’t go for four job searches. When you’re permanently disabled on SSDI I didn’t have to work I had to work a little bit due to the state taking my money away from me and spending money that I didn’t have because of how we were being treated during COVID and rent in the inflation and everything going up you had to have extra money coming in but further state to take and steal your unemployment money because they’re telling me I didn’t go for four job searches I can’t even walk for God’s sakes so when are we going to get restitution there when has the people going to get their money back that was stolen from them We have a right to that money it’s ours and how come always that these employees and different departments always get away with stuff when they screw up and nobody represents them and it’s not fair for our money to get taken and nobody following laws. But the taxpayer in the citizens of this country we have to pay the price every time being homeless, being abused being discriminated against being harassed being neglected our quality of life is taken away from us because you got incompetent doctors they don’t want to spend the money and don’t want to do diagnostic so they just allow you to deteriorate more or less just wait and rot away. It’s a shame how the elderly the veterans the disabled seniors have been treated and the thing people forget about is the citizens in the American taxpayers are the one that pays all these salaries for the people that work for the government and different departments and then they say no you don’t You don’t pay her salary Yes we do how do you expect you to get paid who do you think pays you It doesn’t fall out of the sky That’s one thing they need to get out of their heads is there not doing us a favor we’re doing them a favor The government works for us we don’t work for you so you need to start treating us like a human being and stop stereotyping or degrading when we are the ones that worked and paid in and paying your salary that you get these wonderful benefits and we don’t even get that We don’t even get good quality housing We can garbage You treat us like we’re a low life and it’s wrong and Donald Trump I hope the guy reads all this and realizes what we have been through all these years and then tormented because you don’t want to spend the money that doesn’t belong to you because it belongs to the American people that worked United States citizens that worked and paid in their tax dollars and I don’t think it’s right that SSI is making more money than the SSDI something is wrong here they shouldn’t be getting anything they should go back to work if they can work That’s why they’re on SSI to begin with this shouldn’t get more benefits than us. Social Security Administration should either pay the retirement and the SSDI recipients more money to keep up with the inflation because the economy is ruining us and we cannot afford to overpay for groceries gas rent which is outrageous and nobody can afford it that’s why there’s so many homeless individuals which is bad for people’s health but you let everybody else run the show end you don’t take charge You should have put a stop to the housing trend and rentals a long time ago and nobody did anything about it but instead you want to take from the American people how much more you going to cut us off at the knees. And then there’s another issue that I believe that the American people need to know what’s going on here when it comes to our children that are disabled when they turn 18 and does not have a clue what they’re doing and then they want to push the parents out of the way when we raised these disabled kids and got no help no assistance we had to do it on our own but soon as these kids turn 18 how fast the ball drops how fast they don’t get their transition and to see if they can work how fast they walk away from these kids and these kids do not know anything about Medicare Medicaid Social Security because it’s too complex they don’t understand it but they’re forcing these kids to know these things when they have no clue so what do they do they walk away they don’t do what they’re supposed to do they don’t read they don’t understand and this is how the government wants to take over our children. My son at 17 years old sign some contract that he doesn’t even know what he’s signed and called me up and was nervous and said what did I sign here but you know nobody wants to tell the mother when the kid was a minor so we don’t know what he signed but it’s going to be on record that he signs something and he better not be held accountable because he was a minor. And when a parent takes out a dual special power of attorney when they’re a minor at 17 years old The state and federal needs to acknowledge that because these kids do not know what they’re doing The parents knows all about their health issues and we’re protecting our children and the laws need to be changed until they’re 25 years old especially if they have a disability that they can make a decision on their own because hopefully they will be mature mentally stable and be able to handle it I’m 63 and still don’t know all the laws and regulations and everything that’s going on because it is hard to understand so how do they expect a child that just turns 18 to know what’s going on they don’t and Social Security and Medicare should allow the parents to take control so the kids can understand what’s going on and make the right decisions over their health and their finances instead of being so rude and cutting and pushing the parent out of the way that raised these kids they don’t belong to you they belong to us We know it’s best for our children because we want to never had them if God didn’t put them in our hands. I am so disgusted how my son has been treated He didn’t ask for this disability born with it and he didn’t expect to be pushed around by the state and federal government and being lied to many many times and our kids need transportation I’m not paying my tax dollar so my son can go on a bus and get attacked when he has a right to his own transportation because he should be equal to his peers so if his friends get to go on vacation so does my son and my son has a right to a vehicle and to travel and to learn how to drive like everyone else My son sat for years like a prisoner in the house because he couldn’t go nowhere and our kids should be treated like a human being and not be pushed aside and they have a right to quality of life and they have a right to be like everyone else and you’re not treating them this way matter of fact you’re not even treating the parents that way that are disabled so things need to be changed Laws need to be changed Insurance should cover these handicap accessible vehicles for our children that can’t walk and depend on a electric wheelchair that’s their only way of having some sort of a life. You’re taking that away from these children That just want to be normal like everyone else. There’s no reasoning why these handicap accessible vehicles need to be so expensive something should be figured out because we need transportation to go and do different things We don’t need to be waiting on transit or waiting for a city bus or just waiting for an accident to happen.
Mike B.
It’s important to see how the Treasury Offset Program is being reinstated post-COVID. While I understand the government’s need to recover debts, I hope the SSA also considers the financial struggles many are still facing due to inflation and job instability. A phased or more compassionate approach would really help people get back on their feet without added pressure. Looking forward to updates on any hardship provisions or appeals process.
Recon D.
It’s important to see how the Treasury Offset Program is being reinstated post-COVID. While I understand the government’s need to recover debts, I hope the SSA also considers the financial struggles many are still facing due to inflation and job instability. A phased or more compassionate approach would really help people get back on their feet without added pressure. Looking forward to updates on any hardship provisions or appeals process.
Comment from Metinex Aluminium
Dawn S.
I was delayed 3 times which reduced my Disability by $400.00. I applied in 2019 and was delayed because of COVID-19 so I only get $600.00/mo. I have had 4 Four Spinal surgeries yet 3 of those in 2019 weren’t declared as a disability until 2020.
Carlita
I received a letter stating it was a lawsuit and I was supposed to have that they had taken from me for over 2 years and still haven’t received a penny of that overpayment and or underpayment recovery as they stated I was suppose to be getting paid and they never not once over payed me but they sure kept taking payments since March of 2020 to April 2023 so where is all my payments that need to be put back I received the letter about the settlement lawsuit and after that I heard nothing else I got that letter March 31st 2025
John K.
I have never received any letter or notice about owing the SSA anything, but now my $6k tax return was just garnished saying it was paid to the SSA.
there are no tools online to view the debt, no way to talk to a real person at the SSA. This is unacceptable. Hire customer support people.
Salli
My daughter in law’s father collected SSI for himself and the 2 daughters back in 2009 when she was 10. Today she received a letter from the Treasury Dept detailing how her father was overpaid $20,000 and the first step in recovering the said amount was by confiscating her tax refund. This happened 16 years ago. Does the government really believe that a minor child should pay back the amount her father, who has since passed, was overpaid?
Hank W.
How much are allowed to take every month from my ssdi cause iant livee on what im getting now im going to lose everything let me know. How much
Jay
The resumption of the Treasury Offset Program is a big deal for anyone with unresolved federal debts. It highlights how quickly enforcement mechanisms can shift post-emergency. I recently came across a piece on https://ovza.com discussing how international business owners are reassessing asset protection and compliance strategies in light of tighter global financial oversight — definitely relevant as federal collections ramp back up.