SSA informs re: plans for verifying Social Security numbers in 2005
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 18, No. 8, December 22, 2004

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has completed the process of sending out its “no-match letters” for 2004, i.e., the notices it sends to inform employers and employees when employee names or Social Security numbers (SSNs) listed on an employer’s W-2 report (Wage and Tax Statement) do not match SSA records.  The SSA has determined that there will not be any changes to the text of the letter in 2005.

According to SSA officials, as of Dec. 10, 2004, the agency had sent no-match letters to 121,577 employers regarding 7,284,885 W‑2s containing employee names or SSNs that do not match SSA records.  In addition, the SSA had sent approximately 9.1 million letters requesting information regarding specific employees based on the data provided by their employers on W-2 forms.  The SSA sent 7,605,907 of the letters directly to workers at their home addresses, but it sent an additional 1,510,086 letters to workers’employers because either the SSA had no addresses for the workers or the addresses the agency had were incorrect. 

In 2005, the SSA plans to send a similar number of no-match letters based on the same criteria used in 2004.  That is, employers will receive a letter if the W-2s they file result in a “no-match” for at least 10 employees, or if at least one-half of one percent of the total number of names and SSNs they report on W‑2 forms for tax year 2004 do not match SSA records.  The 2005 letters will be mailed out in late February or early March.

While the SSA will not be making any changes to its no-match letter program, it is moving forward with its plans to expand employers’ access to the Social Security Number Verification System (SSNVS).  In a notice published in the Federal Register on Dec. 10, 2004 (69 FR 71865), the SSA announced its plans to provide employers nationwide with the ability to verify SSNs via the Internet through the SSNVS.  The stated purpose of the verification system is “to help ensure that employers provide accurate name and SSN information,” given that the correcting of mismatches “is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process for both SSA and the employer.” 

Currently, the SSNVS is still in the pilot stage, with approximately 80 employers participating.  The SSA plans to make the SSNVS available to all employers across the country in the late spring or early summer, 2005.  The notice states, “SSA will respond to the employer informing them only of matches and mismatches of submitted information.”  However, when the SSNVS was first proposed, immigrants’ rights advocates expressed concerns regarding the codes the SSA would provide employers explaining the reason an SSN did not match the agency’s records, thus providing the employer with more information than is currently allowed under the SSA’s own guidelines (for more on this, see comments regarding the SSNVS submitted to the SSA in July 2002, available at www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/comment_ltrs/NILC_SSA_Comment_Ltr.pdf).  In addition, advocates allege that certain local SSA offices have violated the rules laid out in the agency’s Program Operations Manual System (POMS) by providing employers to whom they have sent no-match letters more information than a simple notice of the names and SSNs reported on W-2 forms that do not match SSA records. 

Finally, advocates should be aware that the National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004, which President Bush signed into law on Dec. 17, 2004, includes a provision that affects the SSNVS.  Specifically, section 7213 provides that within 18 months of the enactment of the bill, the SSA is required to add death, fraud, and work authorization indicators to the SSNVS. 

The developments regarding employers’ ability to verify the SSNs of workers clearly comprises an area that advocates for immigrant workers will need to monitor carefully, as it will complicate efforts to advocate on behalf of undocumented workers seeking to assert their workplace rights. 

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