GAOVerified
BL-CLM-1.
15 federal agencies estimated about $186B in improper payments across 64 programs in FY2025.
Claim visualization
Actual claim dataBL-CLM-1 / Recorded data
FY2025 improper-payment estimate
Estimated payments
~$186B
USD billions
Agencies
15
agencies
Programs
64
programs
Reported measures are shown separately because dollars, agencies, and programs use different units.
Three reported measures, shown on separate scales. Improper payments include several causes; they are not synonymous with fraud.
- Where in the source
- Not recorded
- Source organization
- GAO
- Evidence type
- Not recorded
- Source date
- April 27, 2026
- Last verified
- September 30, 2026
- Approved wording
- GAO reported approximately $186B in estimated improper payments across 64 programs at 15 agencies in FY2025.
- Scope and caveats
- Estimate reported by 15 agencies across 64 programs for FY2025; improper payments include overpayments, underpayments, fraud and other causes.
- Do not infer
- Do not say AI could save $186B or that all improper payments are fraud.
← All claimsRecord BL-CLM-1