WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Treasury Department identified and returned approximately $175 million in federal payments intended for deceased individuals during fiscal 2026, part of an expanded verification system that screened $3.7 trillion in government disbursements before funds were released.
The department said its Bureau of the Fiscal Service screened more than 1.1 billion federal payments during the fiscal year, flagging approximately 13,500 payments to deceased recipients.
The results follow the implementation of new payment controls under Executive Order 14249, signed by President Donald Trump on March 25, 2025, directing federal agencies to strengthen safeguards against fraud, waste, and improper payments.
Treasury also expanded access to its Do Not Pay program, a government-wide system that allows agencies to check payment recipients against databases used to verify identity and eligibility.
Approximately 99% of federal programs can now access the Do Not Pay data sources they are legally authorized to use, compared with 4% at the end of fiscal 2025, according to the department.
The expansion represents a more than twentyfold increase in program access and reflects changes to agency onboarding, data-sharing procedures and privacy compliance requirements.
“Moving beyond ‘pay and chase’ and making prevention the federal government’s first line of defense” is the department’s objective, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Treasury reported screening more than 2.3 billion records against Do Not Pay data sources during fiscal 2026, compared with 641 million the previous year.
The nearly fourfold increase reflects broader agency participation, new payment verification procedures and additional screenings conducted for states through the Public Assistance Reporting Information System.
Treasury also incorporated nine additional datasets into Do Not Pay, expanding the information available for identifying potentially improper payments.
The additions include corporate registration information from OpenCorporates, selected verification using the Social Security Administration’s Numident records, and audit findings from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse.
The department said access to the information remains subject to statutory authorization, privacy protections, security requirements and user access controls.
Separately, Treasury introduced additional verification procedures to examine bank account ownership and the validity of taxpayer identification information associated with federal payments.
Those capabilities were tested during fiscal 2026 and became fully operational September 30, allowing Treasury to identify and return payments that fail established verification requirements before disbursement.
The controls are intended to address payment errors and potential fraud earlier in the federal spending process, rather than relying exclusively on investigations and recovery efforts after funds have been distributed.
Treasury said it developed the procedures in coordination with federal agencies and plans to continue expanding available data and verification capabilities.
The changes mark a broader shift in federal payment oversight toward centralized screening, with Treasury using its disbursement infrastructure to identify potential eligibility and payment problems before government funds leave federal accounts.
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