COUNCIL BLUFFS AND TREYNOR, IOWA (KMTV) — Christopher Storm was 17 years old, working at Pizza Hut and going to high school in Texas when his father died. He received survivor benefits from Social Security — roughly $500 a month — until he turned 18.
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"It was a help to receive the money, the funds, and be able to try to make it on my own," Storm said.
After a final, lump sum payment of roughly $3,000, he says benefits stopped when he came of age. Thirty years later, the government wants that money back.
Storm and his wife, Amy, expected a tax refund this year. Instead, they were told the IRS was claiming it for a past debt. The Social Security Administration says Storm was overpaid in 1996 and now owes almost $8,000.
"We're frantically just trying to figure out what was going on," Storm said of the moment they learned the IRS was clawing back their refund.
Council Bluffs attorney, Keith Buzzard with McGinn Law, says over-payment cases like this are not unusual.
"It is fairly common. I think in any given year, there's like a million of these letters that go out to people," he said.
Buzzard says the financial impact can be severe for some recipients: "They'll get a letter that they owe 40 or 50 grand."
One possible explanation Buzzard offered is that Storm may have earned too much money while working at Pizza Hut, which could have affected his eligibility for benefits. The Social Security Administration may have made the mistake in overpaying Storm, but that doesn't mean they'll just waive the debt.
There is also no time limit on when the government can pursue these debts.
"They can come back any time," Buzzard said.
The Storms say they would have put the tax refund toward some needed home repairs.
"It may not seem real substantial to some people. It feels substantial to us," Storm said. "To have them say, you know, thirty years later, 'Hey, that was an over-payment' definitely feels very unjust."
Buzzard says the Storms are taking the right first step by appealing the debt because that will at least help them get answers.
KMTV emailed the Social Security administration but hadn't heard back as of our deadline.
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