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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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.