Full refund of an overpayment is the preferred method of recovery in all cases. All initial overpayment notices will request refund of the entire overpaid amount. See VB 02005.200 when an SVB overpayment is refunded in full upon notification of the overpayment.

Recovery from SVB can occur only when the veteran is in SVB current pay status, and is accomplished by deducting a portion of the recipient’s monthly SVB payable until full recovery is completed. See VB 02005.205 when an SVB overpayment is to be recovered from SVB.

The Social Security Act authorizes the recovery of title VIII overpayments from title II and title XVI monthly benefits until full recovery of the SVB overpayment is completed. However, pending development of procedures for this method of recovery and for notifying beneficiaries that it applies, verify that the overpayment is established on the SSR using Direct SSR Update (MSOM BUSSR 002 and MSOM BUSSR 003), and recover the overpayment in full through refund, recovery from SVB, installment payments and/or through tax refund offset as appropriate.

Another recovery method is refund by remittance through monthly installments until full recovery is completed. See VB 02005.225 when an SVB overpayment is to be recovered by monthly installments.

SSA may recover delinquent title VIII overpayments from former SVB recipients by offsetting their Federal income tax refunds. This process is referred to as Tax Refund Offset. See SI 02220.012 for a description of this process. VB 02005.230 provides instructions.