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Statute of Limitations

About 11 years ago I applied for social security benefits at age 62. A few weeks ago I received a letter informing me that I have been overpaid because of a mistake on benefits I was due and as a result I owe Social Security over 11, 000 dollars and my benefits will be stopped for about 18 months so they can get it back.
Is there a statute of limitations for the SS to collect from their error.
Also, I hve paid income tax on 85 percent of the payments or some 3,000. on this money they say should not have been paid.
They said I can appeal, buy that is just having another social security employee review.
Is there any recourse to all this?
Thanks for any help. Lynn

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First, regarding any statute of limitations question, this likely will vary depending on the situation and possibly even the state. For example, see the following case where Social Security could not collect an overpayment because the local statute of limitation for filing a claim against an estate has expired.

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/1506705054

Regardless of the situation, it's probably important that you do not make a payment yourself nor acknowledge you "owe" money as doing so may remove any limitation. See the following excerpt :

...but that if the recipient pays back any installment or writes a letter acknowledging the overpayment, the Government's right to collect may be revived (i.e., the statute of limitations may have run, but partial repayment or a written acknowledgment may revive the claim).

http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/hallex/I-05/I-5-4-64.html

Here is information on the appeals process :

http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10041.html

As far as the taxes, you may be able to file an amended tax return for those years, but this is beyond the scope of this web site.


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Not affiliated with the US Social Security Administration