CONCORD - The New Hampshire Employment Security collected $1.2 million in overpaid unemployment benefits by garnishing federal tax returns, the agency said in a release Friday.

The agency said the overpayments happened when people failed to disclose earnings while collecting unemployment benefits. NHES began participating the U.S. Treasury program to garnish money from tax returns in October.

About 96 percent of the overpayments happened because of fraud, the release said.

More information about the collection of tax returns to satisfy overpaid unemployment benefits will be detailed Sunday in an article in the New Hampshire Sunday News.