EDD Overpayment Waiver Form (DE 1446): Eligibility, Filing, and Appeals

The EDD overpayment waiver form DE 1446 is a Personal Financial Statement the Employment Development Department mails to you, along with a Notice of Potential Overpayment (DE 1447), when it has preliminarily decided your overpayment was not your fault and not fraudulent. You fill it out to show that paying the money back would cause extraordinary financial hardship, and EDD uses your answers to decide whether to waive some or all of the balance. You cannot request the form on your own — if it wasn’t in the envelope with your notice, EDD has already concluded you don’t qualify for a waiver.¹²

When the Form Arrives and What It Means

EDD includes the DE 1446 (or the unemployment-specific DE 1446UI) with your Notice of Potential Overpayment when its records show you were paid benefits you weren’t entitled to receive. The trigger might be conflicting wage information, a report from an employer, or a certification error caught in a routine audit. You have 15 days from the date on the notice to respond.²

The presence of the form itself is a signal: EDD staff have already found that the overpayment wasn’t caused by fraud or by fault on your part. Without that preliminary finding, no DE 1446 goes in the envelope, and there is no separate route to request one.²

Who Qualifies for a Waiver

California law relieves you of an overpayment only when all three conditions are met: the overpayment was not caused by fraud or willful misrepresentation, you received the benefits without fault, and requiring repayment would be against equity and good conscience.³

The DE 1446 addresses that third condition. EDD reads “against equity and good conscience” primarily as extraordinary hardship, and it measures hardship by comparing your average gross monthly family income over the preceding six months to income thresholds the department publishes each year.⁴

Fraud overpayments cannot be waived at all. If EDD determines you intentionally gave false information or withheld material facts, you owe the full overpayment plus a 30 percent penalty and face disqualification from future benefits for up to 23 weeks.²

The Income Thresholds EDD Uses

Gross income on the DE 1446 means income before taxes and deductions, from every source: wages, unemployment or disability benefits, investment earnings, and any other money coming in. If your six-month average falls at or below the threshold for your family size on the Family Income Level Table, the overpayment is generally waived.²

For July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, the monthly limits are:²

1 person: $1,587
2 people: $2,459
3 people: $3,292
4 people: $3,967
5 people: $4,720
6 people: $5,474
7 or more: add $754 for each additional person

Income alone isn’t the whole picture. EDD also looks at liquid or readily convertible assets you could use to pay the debt — stocks, bonds, mutual funds, cash, and savings accounts. Your home, household furnishings, vehicles needed for transportation, clothing, and tools of your trade are excluded from that asset review.⁴

A waiver is still possible when your income exceeds the table. The regulations direct EDD to consider unusual circumstances such as medical expenses or other necessary living costs that would make repayment an extraordinary hardship for a higher-income household.⁴

Filling Out the Form

The DE 1446 is a financial disclosure, so accuracy matters more than presentation. Report gross family income from every source for the past six months, including wages, self-employment earnings, rental income, support payments, and unemployment, disability, or extended benefits. EDD defines income broadly, and leaving something off because it looks minor can create a discrepancy that delays or derails your request.⁴

For assets, list bank balances, investment accounts, and other cash or near-cash holdings. Don’t pad the picture by including property EDD’s own regulations exclude — your house, furnishings, personal vehicles, clothing, and work tools.

Pull your documents together before you start writing in numbers. Recent pay stubs or benefit statements, bank and investment account statements, and records of rent, utilities, and medical bills all back up what you report. Exact figures are more persuasive than round estimates, because the form’s usefulness to you depends on how clearly it shows genuine hardship.

Sending It Back

Return the completed DE 1446 using the address or instructions printed on your Notice of Potential Overpayment. The 15-day response window covers the form. If EDD doesn’t hear from you in time, the department may finalize the overpayment without weighing your waiver request at all.²

Photocopy everything before you send it — the completed form and any supporting documents. If the package is lost or EDD asks a question weeks later, your copies are the only proof of what you reported.

What EDD Does With Your Form

EDD reviews your disclosures and measures your reported income against the Family Income Level Table. If the numbers show extraordinary hardship, you receive a Notice of Overpayment that reflects the waived amount. A waiver can cover the full balance or only part of it.²

If EDD decides you don’t qualify, you’ll get either a Notice of Overpayment (DE 1444) or a Notice of Denial of Waiver (DE 1445) with the reason. The common ones are that your income exceeded the table and you had sufficient assets, or that some degree of fault attached to the overpayment.²

If Your Waiver Is Denied

You have 30 days from the mailing date on the Notice of Overpayment to file a written appeal. A late appeal is still possible, but you’ll need to explain the delay, and an Administrative Law Judge will decide whether your reason qualifies as good cause before reaching the merits.² Follow the specific instructions on your denial notice for how to format and where to send the appeal. EDD also posts a downloadable Appeal Form (DE 1000M) on its website.¹

If the appeal fails or you don’t file one, you owe the full amount. EDD offers installment agreements through its Benefit Overpayment Services portal, with payment by ACH debit (no fee) or credit or debit card (convenience fees of 2.75 percent and 1.75 percent, with a $1 minimum). Without an arrangement, EDD can offset future benefits (25 percent of each weekly payment for non-fraud overpayments, the full weekly amount for fraud), intercept state and federal tax refunds, seize lottery winnings or unclaimed property, garnish up to 20 percent of your wages after a summary judgment, levy your bank account, or record a lien against your property.⁵

Not the Same as an Offer in Compromise

The DE 1446 is only for benefit overpayments — money EDD says you weren’t entitled to receive as a claimant. If you owe delinquent payroll taxes such as unemployment insurance contributions instead, that’s a different program: the Offer in Compromise, filed on Multi-Agency Form DE 999CA under California Unemployment Insurance Code Sections 1870 through 1875, and generally limited to inactive, out-of-business accounts with no realistic prospect of paying in full.⁶⁷

1
Employment Development Department. Benefit Overpayments and Penalties
2
Employment Development Department. Unemployment Overpayments and Penalties
3
California Legislative Information. California Unemployment Insurance Code 1375
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Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 22 1375-1 – Recovery of Overpayments
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Employment Development Department. Benefit Overpayments FAQs
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Employment Development Department. Multi-Agency Form for Offer in Compromise
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California Legislative Information. California Unemployment Insurance Code 1870 – Offers in Compromise