overpayment

overpay o‧ver‧pay [ˌəʊvəˈpeɪ ǁ ˌoʊvər-] verb overpaid _PTandPP

1. [intransitive, transitive] HUMAN RESOURCES to pay someone more than they deserve or are owed:

• The effect of the tax change is that a lot of people will overpay and will then have to claim refunds.

overpay by

• The Pentagon claims the two defense firms were overpaid by more than $1.3 billion over the years.

— overpayment noun [uncountable] :

• alleged overpayment of taxes

• There has been an overpayment of $170,000 on this contract.

2. [intransitive] to pay too much for something in relation to its real value:

overpay for

• Did we overpay for the company? The price was probably on the high side.

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overpayment UK US /ˌəʊvəˈpeɪmənt/ noun [C or U]

► FINANCE, BANKING the act of making bigger payments than originally agreed when paying back a loan, or the amount by which someone has paid more: »

It is important to have a flexible loan that allows overpayment and underpayment.

»

There is no point in making monthly overpayments if your mortgage interest is calculated annually.

► TAX, COMMERCE the act of paying more than is necessary or more than the value of something, or the amount by which someone has paid too much: »

Any overpayment will be treated as a payment of tax in advance.

► HR, COMMERCE the act of paying someone too much, or the amount by which someone has been paid too much: »

An employee was compensated for unused vacation twice, resulting in an overpayment of $10,962.

→ Compare UNDERPAYMENT(Cf. ↑underpayment)