Benefits Repayment After Withdrawing Your Application

Chris Stein, CFP®

Oct 30, 20181 min read

I received the following question recently:

“I need to repay my Social Security benefits after withdrawing my application. I filed in September of 2017 and withdrew in September of 2018. I got a letter saying my withdrawal application was approved and it told me how much I had to repay, but there is no due date on the letter. Nobody at the Social Security office seems to know the answer about when it is due”

Consult the POMS

I have to admit I had to look this one up. Something this detailed is best answered by the official operations manual of Social Security, called the “POMS”, which stands for Program Operations Manual System. The answer can be found on this page of the POMS:

GN 00206.014 Processing a Withdrawal Request made after Adjudication

Benefits Repayment Due in…

I will save you from reading that entire page by summarizing the process as;

SS sends the letter described with the repayment amount and an envelope to return the payment.
SS follows up in 45 days if they have not received payment and warns that you only have 30 more days to pay.
If payment is not received by the end of this additional 30 day period the application for withdrawal is denied and the benefits are resumed.

So, the punch-line is that you have 75 days to repay.