A person is without fault if he is overpaid because of failure to understand the deduction or entitlement provisions or because of unusual or unavoidable circumstances. Without fault cannot be found unless evidence shows that there was a bona fide attempt to comply with the provisions of the law.

Without fault under this category can only be found in cases where the overpayment happened under circumstances not covered by any of the other without fault situations. Thus, if the beneficiary alleges without fault under one of the other established without fault situations but does not meet the requirements of that situation, the provision of this section cannot be used to circumvent the intent of the other provision.

EXAMPLE 1:  A self-employed beneficiary believed she would not lose benefits for any month if her earnings did not exceed the monthly earnings limitation amount.

EXAMPLE 2:  A beneficiary kept a record of his earnings with a view toward restricting his earnings to the permitted amount but exceeded the limitation because of an arithmetic error or because he lost a pay slip.

EXAMPLE 3:  The beneficiary believed she did not have to restrict her earnings in the year in which she reached her full retirement age.