The Treasury Department’s new payment verification process stopped $175 million in payments that would have gone to deceased individuals during the past fiscal year, the department said in a Tuesday (Oct. 6) press release.

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That process is one of several improvements Treasury made during fiscal year 2026 to prevent fraud and improper payments, according to the release.

The new payment verification process implemented by Treasury during the fiscal year included new safeguards to verify critical information before federal payments are disbursed, while protecting legitimate payments, the release said.

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From its launch through the end of fiscal year 2026, this process screened more than 1.1 billion federal payments totaling $3.7 trillion and identified and returned 13,500 payments totaling $175 million that would have gone to deceased individuals, per the release.

Treasury also piloted additional verification capabilities that validate bank account ownership and the presence and format of Taxpayer Identification Numbers associated with federal payments, enabling Treasury to identify and return those that fail these verification requirements before funds are disbursed. These capabilities became fully operational on Sept. 30, according to the release.

During the fiscal year, Treasury also expanded federal programs’ access to the Do Not Pay program, which provides data and tools to help them verify identify and eligibility to prevent fraud and improper payments.

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