1. (a) General. Recovery of overpayments of any benefits made under laws administered by the VA shall be waived if there is no indication of fraud, misrepresentation, or bad faith on the part of the person or persons having an interest in obtaining the waiver and recovery of the indebtedness from the payee who received such benefits would be against equity and good conscience.

2. (b) Application. A request for waiver of an indebtedness under this section shall only be considered if made within one year following the date of a notice of indebtedness issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs to the debtor. The one-year period may be extended if the individual requesting waiver demonstrated to the Chairperson of the Committee on Waivers and Compromises that, as a result of an error by either the Department of Veterans Affairs or the postal authorities, or due to other circumstances beyond the debtor's control, there was a delay in such individual's receipt of the notification of indebtedness beyond the time customarily required for mailing (including forwarding). If the requester does substantiate that there was such a delay in the receipt of the notice of indebtedness, the Chairperson shall direct that the one-year period be computed from the date of the requester's actual receipt of the notice of indebtedness.

   (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 5302(a) and (c); Pub. L. 117-328, Title II, Subtitle E, sec. 254 (Dec. 29, 2022), unless otherwise noted)

[39 FR 26400, July 19, 1974, as amended at 44 FR 59906, Oct. 17, 1979; 48 FR 27400, June 15, 1983; 50 FR 38803, Sept. 25, 1985; 58 FR 3840, Jan. 12, 1993; 90 FR 54235, Nov. 26, 2025]