EDD sending 2+ year old overpayment notices - losing tax refund over $2,000 debt

omg the SAME THING just happened to my brother!! got hit with a $1890 notice last week from 2021 benefits. EDD is desperate for $ apparently

This is actually becoming more common as EDD's audit systems catch up with their backlog. There is no statute of limitations on benefit overpayments - they can go back indefinitely, though typically they focus on the past 3 years. You have 30 days from the notice date to appeal this determination. You should immediately request all records related to the claim through your UI Online account. Look specifically for: 1. The exact weeks they're claiming were overpaid 2. The reason code for the overpayment (it should be on the notice) 3. Any income verification they're using to justify their determination If you believe the determination is incorrect, you absolutely should appeal. The success rate for appeals with proper documentation is actually quite high. While the appeal is pending, you can also request a waiver of the overpayment if repayment would cause financial hardship.

they did this too me last year and took my ENTIRE tax refund. I filed an appeal and won because they had the wrong employer information somehow. take EVERYTHING to the appeal - paystubs, layoff notice, any emails about your hours. They made so many mistakes during covid its ridiculous

Been through this myself and it's a NIGHTMARE trying to get through to EDD to explain the situation. I spent 4 weeks calling daily and could never get past the automated system telling me they were experiencing "higher than normal call volume" (when is it ever normal??). Finally used Claimyr to connect with an actual EDD rep - their service puts you in the callback queue automatically so you don't have to keep redialing. There's a video explaining how it works at https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km and their website is claimyr.com. Within 2 hours I had a callback and got my similar issue resolved - turns out it was their error all along. Definitely worth talking to a real person before going through the formal appeal process.

I work in tax preparation and we've seen a major increase in these EDD overpayment notices in the last 6 months. The system is flagging income discrepancies between what was reported during certification and what employers reported to the IRS. Unfortunately, many of these are due to timing differences or classification issues rather than actual fraud. Definitely file that appeal!

Some good advice here already, but I want to add that you should check if you qualify for an overpayment waiver. If the overpayment wasn't your fault (like EDD made the mistake or the system did) AND repaying would cause financial hardship, you can request a waiver. The form is DE 1446W. Also, if they're intercepting tax refunds, they've probably put this in the Treasury Offset Program. You can request a review of that separately from your appeal by calling the Treasury Offset Program call center at 800-304-3107. Documentation is absolutely essential here. Get everything in writing and keep copies of all communications with EDD.

Wait I'm confused about something. Does your husband have access to his UI Online account still? Because they're supposed to send multiple notifications before taking your tax refund. Did you check if your address was updated with EDD? Sometimes they send notices to old addresses and then claim they "notified" you.

anyone else notice that EDD always seems to find these "overpayments" whenever the state budget is tight?? just saying...

UPDATE: We were able to log into the UI Online account and found several messages from the past 3 months that we never knew about (they didn't email notifications). Looks like they did try to contact us but we had no idea we needed to check this account years after benefits ended. Going to request an appeal tomorrow and gather all our documentation. Thanks everyone for your help!