Federal 'Do Not Pay' System Gets New Data Pipeline to Stop Payments to the Deceased, Starting 2026

The “Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act” is basically an upgrade for the government’s internal accounting system, specifically designed to stop sending benefit checks to people who have passed away. This is about cutting down on improper payments, which is a significant chunk of change when you look at the federal budget. The core of this bill requires the Social Security Administration (SSA) to share the death information it collects with the federal government’s “Do Not Pay” working system. This data sharing, which is supposed to happen “to the extent feasible,” aims to flag deceased individuals faster across all federal agencies that issue benefits. These amendments are slated to take effect on December 27, 2026.

The Data Sharing Mandate: Closing the Loop

Think of the “Do Not Pay” system as the government’s central fraud prevention filter. Currently, the SSA gets state death records, but getting that information quickly and consistently into the hands of every agency writing checks (like those issuing pensions, housing assistance, or other benefits) can be slow. This bill formalizes the requirement for SSA to pump that data into the central “Do Not Pay” system (Section 205(r)). This means if you’re collecting a federal benefit—say, a small business loan or a veterans’ benefit—the system should, ideally, catch it faster if the recipient is deceased. For taxpayers, the benefit is clear: less money wasted on checks that shouldn't be cut.

Paying for the Proof: The Cost of Death Records

State governments charge for their death data, and this bill addresses who pays for it. It requires the SSA and the agency running the “Do Not Pay” system to enter into a cost-sharing agreement for the state death data. This agreement must be based on an “agreed-upon methodology” (Section 205(r)(3)(B)). While this sounds like bureaucratic boilerplate, it’s actually important. If the agencies can’t agree on how to split the bill, or if the methodology places a disproportionate burden on one side, it could stall the entire data-sharing process. For state agencies, this means they need to pay attention to how this cost-sharing agreement is structured, as it affects their bottom line for providing this crucial information.

Protection for the Living: The 'Clear and Convincing' Standard

One of the most important provisions protects living people from being mistakenly declared dead—a bureaucratic nightmare that can instantly freeze bank accounts and benefits. The bill states the Commissioner of Social Security cannot record a death unless they have “clear and convincing evidence” to support the presumption of death (Section 205(r)(5)). This is a high legal standard, which is good news for anyone who has ever been wrongly flagged as deceased. Furthermore, if the SSA does make an error and incorrectly identifies a living person as dead, they are required to notify any agency that has received that incorrect information (Section 205(r)(7)). While this high standard protects the living, it might create a slight administrative bottleneck for stopping payments to the truly deceased if the initial evidence isn't immediately deemed sufficient. For families of the recently passed, this could mean a slight delay in stopping a benefit check, which then needs to be repaid.