Which programs have the highest improper payment rates?
Top 15 by improper payment rate in FY2025. Leading: Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program (68.94%); Emergency Conservation Program (55.50%); Internal Revenue Service - Earned Income Tax Credit (32.69%).
| Program | Improper payment rate |
|---|---|
| Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program | 68.94% |
| Emergency Conservation Program | 55.50% |
| Internal Revenue Service - Earned Income Tax Credit | 32.69% |
| Internal Revenue Service - Refundable Premium Assistance Tax Credit | 31.61% |
| Internal Revenue Service - American Opportunity Tax Credit | 30.68% |
| Housing - Rental Housing Assistance Program (RHAP) - Project Based Rental Assistance - Project Based Section 8 - Rental Housing Assistance Program- Section 236 - Housing for Persons with Disability- Section 811 | 26.41% |
| The Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) | 23.60% |
| Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan Forgiveness | 19.22% |
| Employment & Training Administration - Federal State Unemployment Insurance | 14.86% |
| Internal Revenue Service - Additional Child Tax Credit | 13.61% |
| Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan Guaranty Purchases | 13.28% |
| Travel Pay Other Defense Organization (ODO) – Integrated Automated Travel System (IATS) | 13.10% |
| Supplemental Security Income (SSI) | 11.58% |
| Travel Pay Army – Defense Travel System (DTS) | 11.23% |
| Travel Pay Other Defense Organization (ODO) – Defense Travel System (DTS) | 10.99% |
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How to read this
- Improper payments are agencies' own estimates from samples (PaymentAccuracy.gov, OMB, under the Payment Integrity Information Act): payments that should not have been made or were the wrong amount, plus unknown payments the agency couldn't show were proper. They are not all losses (underpayments and documentation gaps count) and not fraud as such; only risk-susceptible programs are measured.
- Years are the fiscal year of the report; each estimate usually samples payments from an earlier 12 months. Programs join and leave the list, so totals across years compare different sets of programs.
- Rate = improper and unknown payments divided by the outlays the estimates cover (not the agency's whole budget).