Match of State Department Death Information Against
Social Security Administration Records
062313
May 2024 Office of Audit Report Summary
Objective
Our objective was to determine
whether the Social Security
Administration (SSA) issued payments
to beneficiaries who were deceased
according to State Department
records.
Background
SSA administers the Old-Age,
Survivors, and Disability Insurance
(OASDI) and Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) programs under Titles II
and XVI of the Social Security Act,
respectively. OASDI provides benefits
to workers and eligible family
members in the event a worker retires,
becomes disabled, or dies. SSI
provides monthly payments to
individuals who are aged, blind, or
disabled and meet certain income and
resource limits. Under both programs,
payments should terminate when a
beneficiary dies.
When a U.S. citizen dies abroad and
the death is reported to the U.S.
embassy or consulate, the State
Department confirms the decedent’s
death, identity, and U.S. citizenship
and completes and mails to SSA a
Form DS-2060, Consular Report of
Death of a U.S. Citizen Abroad. SSA
treats State Department reported
death information as verified evidence
of death.
The State Department provided us
death information from its Consular
and Passport systems for
approximately 460,000 U.S. citizens
who died from January 1970 through
July 2022.
Results
We identified 1,596
current or suspended payment status
beneficiaries who were deceased according to State Department
death data.
We reviewed 100 randomly selected cases. In 91 cases, it
appeared that State Department death information was correct and
that SSA issued 80 beneficiaries approximately $2.4 million in
payments after death. This occurred because SSA and State
Department had not established a process to timely obtain first-
party reports of death for U.S. citizens who died abroad. In
addition, the State Department initiated, but did not send
completed, Forms DS-2060 to SSA in instances where certain
decedent information, that SSA did not require to terminate benefit
payments, was missing from its records. Examples include cause
of death, next of kin, disposition of the decedent’s remains, or proof
of death documentation (death certificate) in cases where a first
party reported the death.
Based on our sample results, we estimate SSA issued
approximately $37.8 million in payments to 1,277 beneficiaries who
were deceased according to State Department records. We
estimate that identifying and correcting these discrepancies
prevented, or will prevent, approximately $4.9 million in additional
payments after death over a 12-month period.
Agency Corrective Actions
As of May 28, 2024, SSA added death information to 372 of the
1,596 beneficiaries’ records.
Recommendations
We recommended SSA (1) review the 1,596 cases, (2) work with
State Department officials and develop an electronic method to
timely report death information for U.S. citizens who die abroad,
and (3) work with State Department officials to timely forward
reports of death abroad when State Department obtains a first-
party report of death.
SSA agreed with recommendations 1 and 2. SSA disagreed with
recommendation 3 but agreed to satisfy the intent of the
recommendation through implementation of recommendation 2.