115. When do I have to repay an overpayment?

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SNAP Advocacy Guide

By

Massachusetts Law Reform Institute

Reviewed

January 2024

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Under the federal and state SNAP rules, you are required to repay overpayments even if the overpayment was DTA’s mistake – unless the overpayment meets certain exceptions¹.

If you are getting SNAP, DTA will take some of your SNAP to repay the overpayment.

DTA will collect from you and also any others who were adults and in your SNAP household at the time of the overpayment².

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Collecting overpayments from current recipients

DTA has the authority to reduce the amount of a claim. This is called “compromising the claim”³. DTA only has a policy to compromise “Agency Error” overpayments for households actively getting SNAP:

If all SNAP household members in your household are age 67 or older, DTA will waive the entire (100%) Agency Error overpayment amount. DTA started this policy in May 2018.
If any or all SNAP household members in your household are below age 67, DTA will waive half (50%) of the Agency Error amount. For example, if a household has a $900 Agency Error overpayment, DTA will reduce the amount owed to $450. DTA started this policy in November 2018.

Expand All

Collecting overpayments from current recipients

DTA has the authority to reduce the amount of a claim. This is called “compromising the claim”³. DTA only has a policy to compromise “Agency Error” overpayments for households actively getting SNAP:

If all SNAP household members in your household are age 67 or older, DTA will waive the entire (100%) Agency Error overpayment amount. DTA started this policy in May 2018.
If any or all SNAP household members in your household are below age 67, DTA will waive half (50%) of the Agency Error amount. For example, if a household has a $900 Agency Error overpayment, DTA will reduce the amount owed to $450. DTA started this policy in November 2018.

Collecting overpayments from non-recipients