Have you received a letter at home from the HHS payroll provider, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), about an overpayment to you?  The letter includes basic information about the overpayment, as well as guidance on how to repay, or how to request consideration of a waiver of the overpayment or a hearing.

What you should do

If you would like to request that NIH consider waiving an overpayment, please submit the following documents to your IC’s Client Services Division branch chief as soon as possible. If the waiver concerns a health or life insurance overpayment, please instead submit the documents to your IC's Benefits contact.

• A signed statement that you are requesting a waiver of overpayment that includes:
  • Your name
  • Home address
  • Institute or Center (current and at the time of overpayment)
  • Position, GS grade and step, annual pay (current and at time of overpayment)
  • Gross and net amounts of overpayment
  • Whether you knew you were overpaid
  • Any actions you took to correct the error
     
• Additional documents to include:
  • Defense Finance and Accounting System (DFAS) letter (HHS’s payroll provider) about your overpayment
  • Signed HHS-710, “Request for Waiver of Overpayment or for Hearing (HHS)”
  • Leave and Earnings statements from one pay period before the overpayment until one pay period after the overpayment
  • Standard Form 50s covering the same time period as the LES’s
  • Any other documents/emails that may be relevant to the case

Your IC’s contact can answer questions about your request and may request additional documentation needed to review a waiver of overpayment.

Timeframe

Submit the request as soon as possible.  Debts will start to be recovered thirty days from the date on DFAS’s letter.  If your request to waive the overpayment is approved, you will be refunded the recovered amount.  You have three years from the date of DFAS’s letter to submit this request.

Waiver decision notification

Current NIH employees will receive a decision on the waiver request through their NIH email.  Former NIH employees will receive a decision letter at their home address.