GIS overpayments and appeals
An overpayment is GIS money you received but were not entitled to — usually because income was higher than the figure used to calculate the payment, or because a change (a marriage, a move abroad, a return to work) was reported late. Overpayments are common, they are not a penalty, and they are fixable. What matters is acting quickly once you know about one.
How overpayments usually happen
- Income estimated too low: you asked Service Canada to use a current-year estimate, and your actual income came in higher. The difference is reconciled as an overpayment.
- Late reporting: a change in marital status, residence or income was reported months after it happened, and GIS kept being paid at the old rate in the meantime.
- Tax return filed late or amended: the July renewal used one income figure, and a later return showed a higher one.
- Payments after a death or a move abroad: payments that continued past the date entitlement ended.
Repayment, and hardship
Service Canada will tell you the amount and how it will be recovered. Recovery is normally by deduction from future benefits, in instalments, and the regulations require that the deduction not cause undue hardship — if the proposed deduction would leave you unable to meet basic needs, contact Service Canada and ask for a longer repayment period or a smaller deduction. In some cases Service Canada can remit (cancel) all or part of an overpayment, particularly where it resulted from its own administrative error or wrong advice: make that request in writing to the office that issued the decision, with the facts set out plainly. Ignoring an overpayment letter does not make it go away; it makes the deduction start without your input.
If you disagree with a decision: reconsideration, then appeal
If you disagree with a Service Canada decision about GIS — eligibility, amount, or an overpayment — first ask Service Canada to reconsider it. A different officer reviews the file, and you should send any documents that support your case. If the reconsideration decision still goes against you, you have 90 days from receiving it to appeal to the General Division of the Social Security Tribunal (SST). If the General Division decision goes against you, you have a further 90 days to ask the SST's Appeal Division for permission to appeal. Late appeals need a reasonable explanation, and the Tribunal cannot accept an appeal filed more than a year after the reconsideration decision. Keep every letter: the deadlines run from when you received the decision, not from when you first disagreed with it.