Need To Prevent Windfall Benefits to Supplemental Security Income Recipients

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is required to determine Social Security Income (SSI) eligibility and benefit payment amounts on a quarterly basis. It computes benefits based on the income a recipient expects to receive over a projected 3-month period. Basic benefits are reduced dollar for dollar for countable income. Windfall benefits occur when other retroactive income covering prior quarters is received in a current quarter and is greater than the current quarter's SSI benefits. The Social Security Act does not provide for the recovery of these windfall payments creating a program of inequity which allows recipients of large retroactive payments to receive more SSI benefits than recipients who receive a similar amount of non-SSI income on a current monthly basis. Legislation has been proposed which would partially solve the problem.