SSA policy verified September 6, 2026
SSA says you were overpaid. This is what leaves your check.
Since April 25, 2025, the default on a Social Security overpayment is up to 50% of your monthly benefit — half the check, until the balance is gone. SSI works differently — 10%, and counted against your total monthly income rather than the SSI payment alone. A $5,000 overpayment on a $1,800 benefit means $900 withheld a month and about 6 months of half-size checks. It is a default, not a verdict: three different forms change it, and filing a waiver or an appeal within 30 days stops collection while SSA decides.
What comes out of your check?
Enter the overpayment from your notice and your current monthly benefit. Everything below updates as you type. Nothing is sent anywhere — the arithmetic runs in your browser.
SSI's 10% is 10% of your total monthly income, not of the SSI payment. Use the countable figure from your award notice — not gross pay. SSA discounts wages heavily before counting them, so entering gross pay will overstate what is withheld.
That is 6 months of $900 coming out, with a final payment of about $500. You repay $5,000 either way — the rate only changes how hard each month is.
This is an estimate from the figures you typed. The amount SSA actually withholds is the one on your notice. MoneyHackWise is not affiliated with the Social Security Administration.
The same overpayment at every rate
This is the whole argument for asking for a lower rate: the rate decides how big the hole in each check is, and how long it lasts. A lower rate is not forgiveness — you repay the same total, over more months.
| Withholding rate | Withheld each month | Your check | Months to clear |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50% (the default) | $900 | $900 | 6 |
| 25% | $450 | $1,350 | 12 |
| 10% | $180 | $1,620 | 28 |
| 5% | $90 | $1,710 | 56 |
Three forms, three different situations
SSA draws the line by what you actually disagree with, and its own guidance splits it three ways. Filing the one that matches your situation gets you an answer faster.
You do not think you were overpaid — or the amount is wrong
File Form SSA-561, Request for Reconsideration. This is the appeal: you are disputing the decision itself, not asking for mercy. Explain why you think you were not overpaid, or why the figure is wrong.
You were overpaid, but it was not your fault and you cannot afford it
File Form SSA-632, Request for Waiver of Overpayment Recovery. A waiver asks SSA to stop collecting altogether. SSA weighs both halves — whether the overpayment was your fault, and what repaying it would do to you.
If the overpayment is $2,000 or less, ask anyway. SSA's instructions (POMS GN 02250.350) tell staff to waive recovery where someone requests a waiver and the original overpayment was $2,000 or under, presuming the person was not at fault rather than investigating it. It keys on the amount on your notice, not what is left after collection has started, and it does not apply where SSA finds fraud or similar fault. The catch is in the word requests: SSA does not apply this on its own. Nobody gets it by staying quiet.
You accept it and will repay — just not at that rate
File Form SSA-634, Request for Change in Overpayment Recovery Rate (PDF). You are not arguing about the money, only the speed. The table above is the argument: it shows what the rate does to the check you actually live on.
Start with a phone call, not the form. SSA's field instruction (POMS GN 02210.030) tells its staff to negotiate a rate with you — first one that clears the balance in about twelve months, and if you cannot manage that, one that clears it within 60 months — with a floor of $10 a month. The same section tells staff not to ask for an SSA-634 when the debt can be recovered inside 60 months. On the $5,000 example above, even the lowest rate clears in under 60 months, so a call is the whole job. The form, with proof of income, expenses and resources, is for when the rate you need would stretch repayment past that.
Do not count on it pausing collection. The regulation that stops recovery (20 CFR 404.506) is about waivers, and SSA's rate-change instruction says nothing about suspending withholding — so assume money keeps coming out at the rate in your notice while a rate request is processed. If you also dispute the debt, or cannot afford any repayment at all, file the SSA-561 or SSA-632 as well.
These are not either/or. You can request reconsideration and ask for a waiver, and legal-aid guidance often suggests exactly that when you are unsure: they answer different questions — was I overpaid at all, and should I have to repay it — and losing one does not decide the other. Disability Rights California puts it plainly: if you are not sure what to do, appeal within 60 days and ask for a waiver at the same time. A waiver costs nothing to request and has no deadline.
There are several different clocks, and only one of them is 30 days. Ask for a waiver within 30 days of receiving the notice and, in the words of 20 CFR 404.506(c), “no adjustment or recovery action will be taken” until the initial waiver decision is made. The clock runs from receipt, not from the date printed on the letter — and SSA treats you as having received it five days after that date unless you show otherwise (20 CFR 404.901).
Missing day 30 costs you less than it sounds. The same regulation says that if you ask for a waiver more than 30 days after receiving the notice, SSA “will stop any adjustment or recovery actions” until it decides — so a late request still halts withholding that has already started. Filing inside 30 days is what stops collection ever beginning; filing later stops it continuing. A reconsideration can be filed within 60 days of receiving the notice (20 CFR 404.909, extendable for good cause), and a waiver has no time limit at all.
There is also more breathing room than the 30 days implies before anything actually moves. SSA posts a new overpayment for recovery some months after the notice, so in practice withholding usually starts around 90 days in — the figure Disability Rights California reports for SSDI — and the emergency message guarantees a floor of at least 60 days. Treat 90 days as typical, not promised.
On SSI there is a tighter clock worth knowing about. SSA's instructions (POMS SI 02301.310) say a recipient who appeals within 10 days of receiving the notice should keep being paid at the protected payment level without interruption. Appeal on day 11 or later — still within 60 days — and the payment may drop first before being reinstated to that level. Same five-day receipt assumption applies. If you are on SSI and intend to appeal, the first ten days are worth a great deal more than the next fifty.
Where the 50% came from
SSA moved the default withholding on Social Security overpayments to 50% in Emergency Message EM-25029 REV, effective April 25, 2025, for notices issued on or after that date. SSA's own wording is that it will withhold up to 50% — the figure is a ceiling and a starting point, and it applies unless you request a lower rate, reconsideration, or a waiver. Where SSA has made a fraud or similar-fault determination the 50% ceiling does not protect you at all — those debts fall outside it, and the agency can withhold the entire benefit rather than half of it. Earlier in 2025 the agency had announced a 100% default and then stepped back from it, which is why older articles and newer ones disagree. SSI overpayments were not part of that change and stay at 10%. If the letter you are holding is about next year's increase rather than a debt, that is the other direction entirely — see the 2027 Social Security COLA estimate.
The SSI 10% works differently from the Social Security 50%, and it catches people out. Under 20 CFR 416.571 the monthly recovery is capped at the lesser of your whole SSI payment or 10% of your total monthly income — countable income plus SSI plus any state supplement. So if you also have wages or another benefit, 10% of your total income is more than 10% of the SSI check alone. That is why the calculator asks for your other income when you pick SSI. The 10% cap also does not apply at all where SSA determines the overpayment involved fraud, willful misrepresentation, or concealment.
Two cases where the 50% does not apply the way you would guess
An older notice keeps the old rate. If SSA issued your overpayment notice before April 25, 2025, you keep the 10% withholding rate when recovery resumes — the change was not applied backwards. Set the notice date in the calculator and it uses 10% instead.
A new overpayment drags the old one up with it. If you are already repaying an older balance at 10% and SSA finds a new overpayment, then once withholding on the new one begins, every outstanding overpayment defaults to the 50% rate. The older debt does not keep its old rate. That is the single largest jump these rules can produce.
If you are no longer getting a check
Withholding needs something to withhold from. If your benefits have stopped, SSA asks you to call 1-800-772-1213 to set up a payment plan or ask about settling the balance. If your notice carries a Remittance ID, it can be paid at pay.gov. If a repayment plan is going to squeeze the rest of your budget, the debt payoff comparator and the inflation calculator are the two tools people reach for next. The repayment line is 1-855-807-8807, and TTY is 1-800-325-0778. SSA's own page is Repay overpaid benefits.
This page is not SSA, and not advice. It explains a published rule and does arithmetic on figures you enter. It cannot tell you whether SSA will grant a waiver, lower your rate, or agree the overpayment was wrong — only SSA decides that, on your specific facts. Work from the notice you were sent, and if the amount is large or you are unsure, a legal aid office or a benefits lawyer is worth the call.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Social Security take for an overpayment?
For Social Security benefits (retirement, SSDI and survivors), the default is up to 50% of your monthly benefit on overpayment notices dated on or after April 25, 2025, under SSA Emergency Message EM-25029 REV. For SSI the default is unchanged at 10%. It is a default, not a fixed rule — you can ask for a lower rate.
Can I stop them taking it while I appeal?
SSA says that if you submit a request for waiver or an appeal before 30 days have passed, it will not begin collecting until a decision is made on your case. A rate-change request on Form SSA-634 does not pause collection. And missing 30 days costs you the pause, not your rights: reconsideration can still be filed within 60 days of receiving the notice, and a waiver has no deadline at all.
Which form do I use?
SSA splits it three ways. If you do not agree you were overpaid, or the amount looks wrong, that is Form SSA-561, Request for Reconsideration. If you agree but the overpayment was not your fault and you cannot afford to repay it, that is Form SSA-632, Request for Waiver of Overpayment Recovery. If you agree and will repay but not at the rate in the letter, that is Form SSA-634, Request for Change in Overpayment Recovery Rate.
What happens if I do nothing?
The default rate in your notice takes effect and SSA begins withholding from your monthly payment until the balance is cleared. Doing nothing is itself a choice to accept the rate in the letter.
Does a waiver mean I pay nothing?
If SSA grants a waiver, it stops trying to collect that overpayment. SSA decides waivers case by case on whether the overpayment was your fault and whether repaying it would be unfair or unaffordable. Nobody outside SSA can tell you the outcome, and this page does not try to.
I no longer get benefits. What then?
Withholding only works if there is a check to withhold from. If you are no longer receiving benefits, SSA asks you to call and set up a payment plan, or to ask about settling the balance. Notices that include a Remittance ID can also be paid at pay.gov.
Last reviewed September 6, 2026. Figures based on the Social Security Administration (Repay overpaid benefits; Forms SSA-561, SSA-632 and SSA-634), SSA Emergency Message EM-25029 REV of August 28, 2025 on PolicyNet, and the Code of Federal Regulations (20 CFR 416.571 on the SSI 10% limit and 20 CFR 404.909 on the 60-day reconsideration deadline). Estimates for general education, not financial advice.