Supporting Statement--0648

Supporting Statement for Form SSA-1414

Credit Card Payment Form

OMB No. 0960-0648

A. Justification

1. Section 702(a)(4) of the Social Security Act gives the Commissioner the responsibility and power to discharge all duties of the Social Security Administration, and the full authority and control over all personnel and activities. For many years, the Federal government has been accepting credit card payments for debts owed by individuals and businesses. The Department of the Treasury, which creates the Federal government's general debt collection policy and procedures, has long encouraged the use of electronic funds transfer, including credit cards for repaying debts. It is a long-standing business practice used by other Federal agencies as well as the Social Security Administration (SSA). Form SSA-1414 ensures that all of the necessary information has been collected from a debtor in order to collect and process payment.

2. SSA uses the information collected on Form SSA-1414 to process payments from former employees and vendors who have outstanding debts owed to the agency. SSA also uses the information collected on Form SSA-1414 to process advance payments for reimbursable agreements and to process credit payment for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests that require payment. SSA developed this form as a convenient method for respondents to satisfy such debts through a credit card payment. The respondents are former employees and vendors who have debts still owed to the agency, and individuals who request information through FOIA.

3. SSA has not currently scheduled Form SSA-1414 for electronic implementation because of the form's low volume of usage and the need to prioritize higher volume collections. SSA will consider this form as a candidate for electronic implementation during future reviews.

4. There are other credit card forms that collect similar information to that of the SSA-1414. However, each form is case or program specific often involving different operating components and authorized by varying statutes and regulations. Therefore, there is no duplication of the information.

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

6. If SSA did not collect the information on Form SSA-1414 the agency would not be able to process credit card payments from former employees and vendors who have debts still owed to the Agency or from individuals requesting information through FOIA. Since SSA collects this information on a case by case basis, we cannot collect it less frequently. There are no technical or legal obstacles that prevent burden reduction.

7. There are no special circumstances that would cause SSA to conduct this information collection in a manner that is not consistent with 5 CFR 1320.5. However, in some situations SSA may collect this information more often than quarterly if a debtor is using the form to make monthly payments.

7. The 60-day advance Federal Register Notice published on December 2, 2008, at 73 FR 73377, and SSA received no public comments. The second Notice published on __________, at 73 FR _____. There have been no outside consultations with members of the public.

7. SSA provides no payments or gifts to respondents.

7. 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.

7. The information collection does not contain any questions of a sensitive nature.

7. Approximately 100 respondents complete the form 1 time each annually, for a total of 100 responses. The estimated average response time is 5 minutes for a total of 8 burden hours. SSA reflects the total burden as burden hours, and has calculated no separate cost burden.

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

7. The annual cost to the Federal Government is approximately $168. This estimate is a projection of printing and distribution expenditures for the form and the cost of collecting the information.

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

7. SSA will not publish the results of the information collection.

7. OMB has granted SSA an exemption from the requirement to print the expiration date for OMB approval on its 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). OMB granted this exemption so that SSA would not need to take otherwise useable editions of forms out of circulation because the expiration date had been reached. In addition, SSA avoids Government waste because we will not need to destroy or reprint stocks of forms.

7. 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

SSA is not using statistical methods for this information collection.

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