Supporting Statement--0473

Supporting Statement for Form SSA-4156

Employee Identification Statement

20 CFR 404.702

OMB No. 0960-0473

A. Justification

1. Section 205 (c)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act and 20 CFR 404.702 of the Code of Federal Regulations requires the Social Security Administration (SSA) to establish and maintain records of the wages and the self-employment income of individuals. Whenever earnings are reported under a Social Security Number (SSN) that does not belong to a worker, SSA must identify the worker, determine the correct SSN to which the earnings should be posted and remove the earnings from the incorrect Social Security record.

2. When two or more individuals have earnings reported under the same SSN, SSA needs the information collected on Form SSA-4156 to credit earnings to the correct individual and the correct SSN. This form is sent to the employer in order to identify the employees involved, to resolve the discrepancy and to post earnings to the correct SSN. The respondents are employers who are involved in erroneous wage information reported for an employee.

3. At this time, the SSA-4156 will not be made available in an electronic format due to the low volume of usage. The number of respondents for this form is below the 50,000 threshold that SSA considers for an electronic collection. However, the form is sent with pre-filled information for response and return in order to lessen the burden on the public.

3. The nature of the information being collected and the manner in which it is collected preclude duplication. There is no other collection instrument used by SSA that collects data similar to that collected here.

3. This collection does not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small businesses or other small entities.

3. If this information were not collected, SSA would be unable to resolve discrepancies which arise when two or more individuals report earnings under the same SSN. Collection of this information takes place on an individual basis and when necessary to resolve erroneously posted earnings. Therefore, it could not be collected less frequently. There are no technical or legal obstacles that prevent burden reduction.

3. There are no special circumstances that would cause this information collection to be conducted in a manner that is not consistent with 5 CFR 1320.5

3. The 60-day advance Federal Register Notice was published on November 5, 2007 at 72 FR 62510, and SSA has received no public comments. The second Notice was published on February 11, 2008, at 73 FR 7782. There have been no outside consultations with members of the public.

3. SSA provides no payment or gifts to the respondents.

3. The information requested is protected and held confidential in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 1306, 20 CFR 401 and 402, 5 U.S.C. 552 (Freedom of Information Act), 5 U.S.C. 552a (Privacy Act of 1974) and OMB Circular No. A‑130.

3. Item 6 of Form SSA-4156 asks for a physical description of the employee, which will be used only to assist with identification. In these situations, SSA knows that at least one worker is using another worker’s name and/or SSN. When SSA is unable to contact the persons involved, physical descriptions are needed in order to distinguish between the SSN holder and the employee who is using the incorrect SSN. If SSA is able to contact one of the individuals involved, the information is used for identification.

12. The SSA-4156 is used by approximately 4,750 respondents annually. The estimated response time is 10 minutes, for a total of 792 burden hours. The total burden is reflected as burden hours, and no separate cost burden has been calculated.

12. There is no known cost burden to the respondents.

12. The annual cost to the Federal Government is approximately $7,315. This estimated cost is a projection of the costs for printing and distributing the collection instrument and for collecting the information.

12. There are no changes in the public reporting burden.

12. The results of the information collection will not be published

12. OMB has granted SSA an exemption from the requirement that the expiration date for OMB approval be printed on it s program forms. SSA produces millions of public-use forms, many of which have a life cycle longer than that of an OMB approval. SSA does not periodically revise and reprint its public-use forms (e.g., on an annual basis). This exemption was granted so that other wise useable editions of forms would not be taken out of circulation because the expiration date had been reached. In addition, Government waste has been avoided because stocks of forms will not have to be destroyed and reprinted.

12. SSA is not requesting an exception to the certification requirements at 5 CFR 1320.9 and related provisions at 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

Statistical methods are not used for this information collection.

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