https://www.gao.gov/blog/federal-government-made-236-billion-improper-payments-last-fiscal-year
Posted on March 26, 2024
The federal government reported an estimated $236 billion in “improper payments” during the most recently completed fiscal year (FY 2023). Such payments are essentially payment errors that can be the result of many things—including overpayments, inaccurate recordkeeping, or even fraud.
Payment errors are a long-standing issue for the federal government. Over the last 20 fiscal years, it has made an estimated $2.7 trillion in such improper payments.
What’s causing these errors and what can be done to prevent them? Today’s WatchBlog post looks at our new report, issued today.
What were the payment errors in FY 2023?
The $236 billion in improper payments were reported by 14 agencies across 71 programs.
- More than $175 billion (74%) of errors were overpayments—for example, payments to deceased individuals or those no longer eligible for government programs
- $11.5 billion were underpayments
- $44.6 billion were unknown payments—meaning it is unclear whether a payment was an error or not
- $4.6 billion were cases where a recipient was entitled to a payment, but the payment failed to follow proper statutes or regulations
