Citation Nr: 18146875 Decision Date: 11/01/18 Archive Date: 11/01/18 DOCKET NO. 17-67 349 DATE: November 1, 2018 REMANDED The issue of whether an overpayment debt of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) compensation benefits in the amount of $5,898.62 due to change in dependency status was properly created is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from September 1967 to September 1990. He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal, among other awards and decorations. The Veteran requested a hearing conference before a Decision Review Officer at the Regional Office (RO) but withdrew that request in December 2017. In addition, the Veteran testified at a Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) hearing before the undersigned in August 2018. A transcript of the hearing is associated with the record. This overpayment debt extends from a retroactive adjustment of VA compensation benefits due to the removal of the Veteran’s first spouse from his award due to her death in February 2009. The Veteran generally contests the amount of the debt owed and contends that the overpayment should only encompass the additional benefits he received during the period of time he was not married to any spouse; evidence received by VA in December 2015 documents his marriage to his current spouse in September 2011. Initially, the Board notes that the Veteran submitted a claim for waiver of the overpayment debt in the amount of $5,898.62 in January 2016. A September 2016 administrative determination advised him that the Committee on Waivers and Compromises (COWC) was unable to consider the claim. As the Veteran did not timely disagree with the September 2016 determination, an appeal was not initiated for a waiver of the overpayment debt and will not be further addressed by the Board. See 38 C.F.R. § 20.302(a). Additionally, the Board also notes that the Veteran’s disagreement extends from a December 2015 Debt Management Center (DMC) first demand letter, which notified the Veteran that his first spouse was removed from his compensation award, effective March 1, 2009, but computed that the retroactive adjustment of his compensation benefits in the amount of $5,898.62 based on a time period beginning September 1, 2010. After the Veteran’s January 2016 notice of disagreement, the RO sent an additional notification letter in May 2016 advising the Veteran of an error in the computation of the initial overpayment debt and explaining that an additional adjustment in his compensation benefits for the period from March 1, 2009, to September 1, 2010, resulted in an additional overpayment debt in the amount of $1,080.00. This additional debt has not been properly adjudicated by the RO, therefore the Board is unable to do so in the first instance. Accordingly, the Board finds the issue of whether the overpayment debt of compensation benefits in the amount of $5,898.62 due to change in dependency status was properly created must be remanded pending further adjudication of the additional $1,080.00 debt as any development on whether the overpayment debt of $1,080.00 was properly created and/or whether a waiver of such debt is warranted may impact the claim on appeal. Therefore, any decision on the claim would be premature. See Harris v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 180, 183 (1991). The matter is REMANDED for the following actions: 1. Provide proper notice of the overpayment debt in the amount of $1,080.00 for the retroactive adjustment of VA compensation benefits due to change in dependency status from March 1, 2009, to September 1, 2010, and allow the Veteran his right to request a waiver. The Veteran is to be advised that a timely notice of disagreement and substantive appeal must be filed in order to perfect an appeal on the issue(s) of whether the overpayment debt in the amount of $1,080.00 was properly created and/or the issue of waiver of the overpayment debt in the amount of $1,080.00. 38 C.F.R. § 20.302(a)-(b). Only if the appeal is timely perfected are the issue(s) to be returned to the Board. 2. Then, the record should again be reviewed and the AOJ should readjudicate the claim as to whether an overpayment debt of VA compensation benefits in the amount of $5,898.62 due to change in dependency status was properly created. If the benefit sought on appeal remains denied, the Veteran should be furnished with a supplemental statement of the case and be given the opportunity to respond. DEBORAH W. SINGLETON Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD A. Odya-Weis, Counsel