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Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73not60

§1320a–6a Interagency Coordination to Improve Program Administration

Title 42 › Chapter 7— SOCIAL SECURITY › Subchapter XI— GENERAL PROVISIONS, PEER REVIEW, AND ADMINISTRATIVE SIMPLIFICATION › Part A— General Provisions › § 1320a–6a

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Social Security Commissioner and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management must make an agreement to share information and set up a system so that if someone gets a federal disability annuity and also is owed past-due Social Security disability benefits, the two agencies can work together to fix any annuity overpayments. The OPM Director must tell Social Security when a person starts getting a monthly disability annuity and confirm the person gave written permission. If Social Security finds the person is owed past-due benefits, it tells OPM. Within 30 days OPM must give Social Security the total annuity overpayments and any other needed information. If OPM gives that information on time, Social Security may hold back past-due benefits and send that money to OPM to repay the annuity overpayment. Withholding happens only after other required benefit reductions and can’t occur if OPM misses the 30-day deadline. Any appeal about withholding goes to OPM under its review rules. OPM must pay Social Security, each calendar quarter, the agency’s estimated costs for running this process. Definitions: “disability annuity overpayment” — the amount by which a monthly annuity was reduced because the person also had Social Security disability for the same month. “Authorization” — the person’s written permission allowing Social Security to withhold past-due benefits to repay OPM for annuity overpayments.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §1320a–6a

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including section 407 of this title, the Commissioner of Social Security (referred to in this section as “the Commissioner”) and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (referred to in this section as “the Director”) shall enter into an agreement under which a system is established to carry out the following procedure:
(1)The Director shall notify the Commissioner when any individual is determined to be entitled to a monthly disability annuity payment pursuant to subchapter V of chapter 84 of subpart G of part III of title 5 and shall certify that such individual has provided the authorization described in subsection (f).
(2)If the Commissioner determines that an individual described in paragraph (1) is also entitled to past-due benefits under section 423 of this title, the Commissioner shall notify the Director of such fact.
(3)Not later than 30 days after receiving a notification described in paragraph (2) with respect to an individual, the Director shall provide the Commissioner with the total amount of any disability annuity overpayments made to such individual, as well as any other information (in such form and manner as the Commissioner shall require) that the Commissioner determines is necessary to carry out this section.
(4)If the Director provides the Commissioner with the information described in paragraph (3) in a timely manner, the Commissioner may withhold past-due benefits under section 423 of this title to which such individual is entitled and may pay the amount described in paragraph (3) to the Office of Personnel Management for any disability annuity overpayments made to such individual.
(5)The Director shall credit any amount received under paragraph (4) with respect to an individual toward any disability annuity overpayment owed by such individual.
(b)(1)Benefits shall only be withheld under this section after any other reduction applicable under this chapter, including section 406(a)(4), 424a, and 1320a–6(a) of this title.
(2)The Commissioner may not withhold benefits under this section if the Director does not provide the notice described in subsection (a)(3) within the time period described in such subsection.
(c)If the Commissioner is required to make a notification described in subsection (a)(2) with respect to an individual, the Commissioner shall not make any payment of past-due benefits under section 423 of this title to such individual until after the period described in subsection (a)(3).
(d)Notwithstanding section 405 of this title or any other provision of law, any determination regarding the withholding of past-due benefits under this section shall only be subject to adjudication and review by the Director under section 8461 of title 5.
(e)For purposes of this section, the term “disability annuity overpayment” means the amount of the reduction under section 8452(a)(2) of title 5 applicable to a monthly annuity payment made to an individual pursuant to subchapter V of chapter 84 of subpart G of part III of such title due to the individual’s concurrent entitlement to a disability insurance benefit under section 423 of this title during such month.
(f)The authorization described in this subsection, with respect to an individual, is written authorization provided by the individual to the Director which authorizes the Commissioner to withhold past-due benefits under section 423 of this title to which such individual is entitled in order to pay the amount withheld to the Office of Personnel Management for any disability overpayments made to such individual.
(g)The Director shall pay to the Social Security Administration an amount equal to the amount estimated by the Commissioner as the total cost incurred by the Social Security Administration in carrying out this section for each calendar quarter.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Pub. L. 114–74, title VIII, § 841(b), Nov. 2, 2015, 129 Stat. 617, provided that: “The amendment made by this section [enacting this section] shall apply to past-due disability insurance benefits payable on or after the date that is 1 year after the date of the enactment of this section [Nov. 2, 2015].”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 1320a–6a

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60