Along with death and taxes, add a third certainty in
life: taxes after death. On this April
15, and every other day, the IRS is seizing millions of dollars of alleged
Social Security overpayments from children of dead beneficiaries. The Treasury
Department has been exercising its new authority since 2011, bringing in $424
million in old debts previously considered out of reach, according to published reports.
If the debtor is deceased, the Federal Trade Commission
long has considered the money a write-off. But the Social Security
Administration has a different view, chasing down adults whose parents cared
for them with unintentionally overpaid benefits.
Larry Benson, author of “Fraud of the Day,” finds the
Social Security Administration’s behavior odd and abusive. Larry Benson, who
writes the “Fraud of the Day” column for Watchdog.org, calls the IRS action
alternately odd and humorous. “I find it odd that the SSA can take the refund
of a child of a past debtor, and hold that offspring responsible.
Obviously, in a number of cases, at the time the debt was
created, this person was a minor and could not be legally bound by a contract.
I really don’t see how this is enforceable,” Benson said.....To Read More....
A follow-up commentary from Kenric Ward on the 16th
IRS-Social Security seizure a ticking time bomb
The Washington Post declared victory Tuesday for exposing the seizure of income-tax refunds to claw back alleged Social Security overpayments.
But the legal issue of garnishing money from the children of deceased parents remains legally contentious, and a senior senator is demanding answers from the agencies involved.
As reported by Watchdog.org and the Post, backtracking Social Security officials announced they will now only pursue overpayment cases less than 10 years old. That timeframe was already set in Internal Revenue Service statutes, so the administration merely acknowledged the law.
Sen. Charles Grassley said the affair is far from over.......
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