In which case must a public official repay an overpayment of remuneration?

Verified 06 February 2026 - Public Service / (Prime Minister)

Your administration may ask you to reimburse remuneration if it has been paid to you wrongly paid when you weren't entitled to it. However, the refund can be claimed in a certain time limit and in some limits of amount.

If the administration wrongly pays you (or unduly) remuneration to which you are not entitled or remuneration greater than that to which you are entitled, it asks you for reimbursement.

This request for reimbursement must be made within a specified period.

Undue payment of remuneration may result from calculation hardware error (or liquidation error) of your remuneration. This can happen, for example, in the event of a computer coding error in your step and the corresponding increased index, which serves as the basis for calculating your index treatment.

Undue payment may also result from irregular decision has become final granting you remuneration to which you are not in fact entitled. An irregular decision becomes final if it has not been withdrawn by the administration within 4 months of its notification. This may, for example, occur in the event of payment of a new index increase (NBI) while you are performing duties that do not in fact entitle you to them.

All remuneration elements wrongly paid may give rise to a claim for reimbursement:

Your employer administration can recover the sums it has unduly paid to you by direct debit, i.e. by deducting them directly from your remuneration, without any form of notification. This is particularly the case when she paid you an element of remuneration following a clerical error and regularizes the situation on your pay for the following month.

The administration can also recover the sums it has unduly paid to you by issuing a recipe title which is notified to you. In this case, the public accountant is responsible for recovering the amounts you have wrongly collected.

Issuance of a recipe document

Your employer authority issues a recipe title which shall include in particular the following information:

  • Nature of remuneration wrongly paid
  • Reference of the text (law, decree, etc.) and/or the chargeable event justifying the request for reimbursement
  • The amount of the amount to be repaid.

The issuance of this revenue document must take place within a specified period.

If this deadline is not respected, the administration can no longer claim the remuneration that was unduly paid to you. This delay is called plate limitation period.

Once the revenue document is issued, the administration has 4 years to effectively recover the amounts due.

Beyond 4 years, the administration can no longer claim undue remuneration. This period of 4 years is called limitation period for recovery.

When should the receipt be issued?

Remuneration paid incorrectly may give rise to a request for reimbursement within the period of 2 years from 1er day of the month following the month of the erroneous payment.

It is customary to consider that the erroneous payment is fixed on the 30th of each month and not on the date of payment of the remuneration appearing on the pay slip.

Also, the prescription period for trim begins to run on 1er of the following month.

After this period of 2 years, the administration can no longer issue a receipt.

Example :

For an amount wrongly paid in January 2026, the starting point of the limitation period is 1er February 2026. It ends on January 31, 2028. The administration can no longer issue a recipe voucher from 1er February 2028.

Where the payment error continues over several months, each erroneous payment constitutes a new starting point for the limitation period.

Example :

You switched to part-time from 1er September 2025 and your administration continued to pay you full-time from September 2025 to December 2025. The erroneous payment of September 2025 may give rise to a request for reimbursement until 31 August 2027, the erroneous payment of October 2025 until 30 September 2027, etc.

Exceptions to this 2-year period

The limitation period of 2 years does not apply in the following 4 cases:

  • The time limit for issuing the receipt is 5 years if you have not informed the administration of a change in your personal or family situation having a effect on your remuneration. This five-year period begins on the day on which the administration becomes aware of the facts justifying the request for reimbursement of the undue remuneration.
  • If you transmit a inaccurate information, the administration may ask you to reimburse the corresponding undue remuneration at any time.
  • The administration cannot ask you to reimburse remuneration paid incorrectly on the basis of a regulatory provision which has been canceled by the Council of State.
  • Nor can the administration ask you to reimburse remuneration wrongly paid on the basis of a irregular decision made final on appointment to a grade. This is the case of a decision to advance to a final grade, internal promotion or tenure pronounced in your favor when you do not meet the conditions to benefit from this measure. Such a decision rights creator becomes final if the administration does not withdraw it within 4 months. A request for a repayment would then lead to you being asked to repay an overpayment when you are actually performing the duties for which you were appointed irregularly.

Notice of amounts payable

Once the recipe title is issued, a notice of amounts payable is sent to you by post to invite you to pay.

The recovery of the amounts due can be done by direct debit on your remuneration.

In this case, the public accountant makes a deduction from your pay over 1 or more months depending on the amount to be recovered.

The restraint may not exceed graspable portion.

The recovery of sums due can also be done by issuing a enforceable title.

You can ask the public accountant for a deferral or installment of your debt.

Free discount

You can apply to your employer's administration for an ex gratia remission on any grounds in your favor (resource situation, dependants,...).)

The administration may reject or admit in whole or in part your request for an ex gratia remission.

In the event of acceptance, you are thus exempt from refunding all or part of the sums wrongly received.

Litigation

The procedure differs depending on your situation:

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You are an agent of the state

If you are a public official, before going to the administrative tribunal, you must address your dispute to the public accountant whose contact information is included on the notice of the amounts payable.

Your letter of objection must be accompanied by the relevant documents or justifications.

This letter must be sent to the public accountant within 2 months of receipt of the notice of the amounts to be paid.

The public accountant acknowledges receipt of your challenge.

It sends it to your employer administration, which has a period of 6 months from the date of receipt of your dispute by the accountant.

In the absence of a response from your employer administration at the end of this 6-month period, your challenge is considered rejected.

In case of rejection by your employer administration, you can enter the administrative tribunal within 2 months.

This period of 2 months starts from the date of notification the decision to reject or from the end of the 6-month period.

Until the judgment of the administrative court has been given, the administration cannot demand the reimbursement of the sum it claims.

If the administration is negligent, you can claim compensation for the damage. This is, for example, the case if they continued to pay, over a long period of time, an amount when you were in good faith or had informed them that you were no longer entitled to it.

You are a territorial or hospital agent

If you are a territorial agent or hospital, you can enter the administrative tribunal within 2 months of notification of the title of recipe.

Until the judgment of the administrative court has been given, the administration cannot demand the reimbursement of the sum it claims.

If the administration is negligent, you can claim compensation for the damage. This is, for example, the case if they continued to pay, over a long period of time, an amount when you were in good faith or had informed them that you were no longer entitled to it.