Gov’t saying I was overpaid and they want $$ back

[Anonymous]

Three months ago, I left a job at a federal agency after 3 years of service. Last week, I received an email notification stating that I had been overpaid and was instructed to pay back the money ($16,000). Apparently, I had been entered into the system incorrectly when I onboarded in 2017, and this was corrected two weeks prior to my leaving (three months ago). Due to that error, I had been overpaid over my entire tenure and am now being asked to repay this amount.

Has anyone ever dealt with this before? Any and all advice welcome.

[Anonymous]

No, but that is nuts. Sorry that’s happening to you.

[Anonymous]

When you owe Govt, not much you can do. YOu will eventually have to pay.

[Anonymous]

Never happened to me, but I've heard about it.

Organize a payment plan. You will not win this.

[Anonymous]

I believe the government can claw the money back. You probably need to get a lawyer and/or a CPA involved.

Your overpayment probably was discovered in an audit.

[Anonymous]

That is crazy. Do you think they are right? Were you overpaid

[Anonymous]

Their fault, not yours, don’t pay

[Anonymous]

Generally when you owe the government money, the sooner you settle or come up with a payment plan the better.

The government can probably charge interest and penalties
and/or garnish future wages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Their fault, not yours, don’t pay

Please don't do that. You will get hammered by uncle sam

[Anonymous]

You didn't notice that your paycheck was bigger than it was supposed to be? What period of time are we talking about?

My non-government employer kept my smart benefits going for a few months while I was on maternity leave. I had to pay them back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Their fault, not yours, don’t pay

That's not how it works. She/he will have to pay in the end.

[Anonymous]

Agree with getting a lawyer or CPA involved. You need someone to look at everything and make sure this is correct.

It seems like there could be tax implications from this as well--if they overpaid you, did you jump another tax bracket? If so, that was wrong for three years.

[Anonymous]

Not at a federal but a private sector job.
They paid for something an employee received (think along the lines of education) which he was supposed to pay back if he left the job before a certain date. He even signed a paper to that effect.
Well lo and behold he left immediately after the service was provided, and they went after him. He started writing them letters, asking for detailed invoices, sending links to laws saying it wasn’t lawful to request the refund, asking for discounts due to his performance reviews and the value he brought to the company etc.
At some point they just stopped responding. It’s been a couple years now and his credit isn’t affected. He was prepared to fight it in small claims court if they ever turned it over to collection.
The amount was around $12k.

I think the strategy of sending them letters and wearing them out can work. Ask them whose mistake it was; who was responsible for the oversight of the employment/hr records etc etc.
I think it will look bad if they turn it over to collection. Then you go to small claims court and it will be too costly and bad for their reputation to fight it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You didn't notice that your paycheck was bigger than it was supposed to be? What period of time are we talking about?

My non-government employer kept my smart benefits going for a few months while I was on maternity leave. I had to pay them back.

I can see how this would happen, especially if you don't know your tax bracket, or the exact costs of benefits.

[Anonymous]

How does your pay stubs from 2017 tie out to your letter of agreement when you started the job?

Were you overpaid?

If you were in fact overpaid come up with a payment plan.