We will waive recovery of an overpayment when:

(a) You are without fault in connection with the overpayment, and

(b) Recovery of such overpayment would either:

(1) Defeat the purpose of the title VIII program, or

(2) Be against equity and good conscience.

(c) We will apply the procedures in this paragraph (c) when an individual requests waiver of all or part of a qualifying overpayment.

(1) For purposes of this paragraph (c), a qualifying overpayment is one that accrued during the pandemic period (see § 408.902(b)) because of the actions that we took in response to the COVID-19 national public health emergency, including the suspension of certain of our manual workloads that would have processed actions identifying and stopping certain overpayments.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subpart, we will presume that an individual who requests waiver of a qualifying overpayment is without fault in causing the overpayment (see § 408.912) unless we determine that the qualifying overpayment made to a beneficiary or a representative payee was the result of fraud or similar fault or involved misuse of benefits by a representative payee (see § 408.641).

(3) If we determine under paragraph (c)(2) of this section that an individual or a representative payee is without fault in causing a qualifying overpayment, we will also determine that recovery of the qualifying overpayment would be against equity and good conscience. For purposes of this paragraph (c)(3) only, “against equity and good conscience” is not limited to the meaning used in § 408.914 but means a broad concept of fairness that takes into account all of the facts and circumstances of the case.

(4) The provisions of this paragraph (c) will apply to a qualifying overpayment identified by December 31, 2020.