**GAO-07-818**                      Published: Jul 09, 2007. Publicly Released: Jul 23, 2007.                  

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## Highlights

Farmers receive about $20 billion annually in federal farm program payments, which go to individuals and "entities," including corporations, partnerships, and estates. Under certain conditions, estates may receive payments for the first 2 years after an individual's death. For later years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must determine that the estate is not being kept open for payments. As requested, GAO evaluated the extent to which USDA (1) follows its regulations that are intended to provide reasonable assurance that farm program payments go only to eligible estates and (2) makes improper payments to deceased individuals. GAO reviewed a nonrandom sample of estates based, in part, on the amount of payments an estate received and compared USDA's databases that identify payment recipients with individuals the Social Security Administration listed as deceased.

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## Topics

Agriculture and Food

Cost analysisEligibility determinationsErroneous paymentsFederal regulationsFinancial managementInternal controlsOverpaymentsProgram evaluationImproper paymentsFarming