Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act

Better death-record sharing can protect federal funds while reducing harm to people mistakenly listed as deceased.

What the law does ​

• Requires the Social Security Administration, when feasible, to share death information with the agency operating the federal Do Not Pay system.
• Requires both agencies to allocate their proportional shares of state death-data costs.
• Allows the Social Security Administration to record someone as deceased for shared records only with clear and convincing evidence.
• Requires the Social Security Administration to alert recipient agencies when someone was incorrectly identified as deceased.

Who it affects ​

• Federal agencies using death data to prevent or recover improper payments.
• People receiving federal payments or mistakenly recorded as deceased.
• States supplying death data to the Social Security Administration.

Context ​

The changes take effect December 27, 2026.

Breakdown ​

Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act ​

This title improves how the Social Security Administration shares death information with the federal Do Not Pay system to prevent and recover improper payments. It also sets standards for recording deaths and requires agencies to be notified when someone was incorrectly identified as deceased.

Key takeaways

• The Social Security Administration must, when feasible, provide death information to the agency operating the Do Not Pay system for authorized efforts to prevent and recover improper payments.
• The Social Security Administration and the Do Not Pay system’s operating agency must agree on a method for allocating their proportional share of state death-data costs.
• The Social Security Administration may record a person as deceased for shared records only when it has clear and convincing evidence that the person should be presumed dead.
• The Social Security Administration must notify agencies receiving its death information when a person was incorrectly identified as deceased.
• These changes take effect on December 27, 2026.