Treasury blocks $175 million in payments to deceased recipients in fiscal 2026

The U.S. Treasury Department said it blocked $175 million in federal payments linked to deceased recipients in fiscal year 2026, up from $99 million identified earlier in the year. Officials said the effort is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to reduce improper payments and improve fraud detection across government programs. According to Treasury, more than 1.1 billion payments worth about $3.7 trillion were screened during the fiscal year. The department said it used expanded access to the Social Security Death Master File and the Do Not Pay system to identify payments that should not have gone out, including about 13,500 payments tied to people no longer eligible because they had died. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said new safeguards and data tools are helping the government verify payments before money leaves the Treasury. The department also said access to the Do Not Pay tool has widened sharply, with most federal programs now able to use it, and that new bank account and taxpayer identification checks became fully operational at the end of September.