Supporting Statement 2009--0101 Revised

Supporting Statement for Form SSA-1724

Claim for Amounts Due In The Case of a Deceased Beneficiary

20 CFR 404.503(b)

OMB No. 0960-0101

1. Justification

1. Section 204(d) of the Social Security Act provides that if an individual dies before payment under Title II has been completed, the amount due (including the amount of any check that is not negotiated) will be paid to persons meeting specified qualifications. As per section 20 CFR 404.503(b) of the Code of Federal Regulations, Social Security Administration (SSA) outlines the order of priority for distribution of underpayments. This form requests the Social Security Numbers (SSN) of the person(s) claiming the underpayment. The SSN will facilitate computerized processing of the claim and use for reporting payment information and identification of the payee to the Internal Revenue Service, if needed.

2. SSA uses Form SSA-1724 to determine if any individual meets the specified qualifications to obtain benefits in the case of a deceased beneficiary as well as the priority order for payment. In order for SSA to decide who should receive any payments dues, the beneficiary completes the form and returns it to us. Generally, where a surviving widow(er) is not already entitled to a monthly benefit on the same earnings record, or is not filing for a lump-sum death payment as a living-with spouse. The respondents are applicants for underpayments due to deceased beneficiaries.

2. Form SSA-1724 is available on the internet for the public to print, fill out and send in to the Social Security Administration (SSA) for processing. SSA-1724 is not available electronically due to higher volume forms taking precedence.

2. The nature of the information we are collecting and the manner in which we are collecting it preclude duplication. SSA does not use another collection instrument to collect similar data.

2. This collection does not affect small businesses or other small entities.

2. If SSA did not use form SSA-1724, we could not be sure that the proper person(s) are paid underpayments, as required by law and regulations. In addition, since SSA collects this information on an as needed basis, we cannot collect it less frequently. There are no technical or legal obstacles to burden reduction.

2. There are no special circumstances that would cause SSA to conduct this information collection in a manner inconsistent with 5 CFR 1320.5.

2. The 60-day advance Federal Register Notice published on April 07, 2009, at 74 FR 15808, and SSA received no public comments. The second Notice published on July 10, 2009, at 74 FR 33313. SSA did not consult members of the public in the maintenance of this form.

2. SSA does not provide payment or gifts to the respondents.

2. SSA protects and holds confidential the information it is requesting 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.

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

2. Approximately 250,000 respondents use Form SSA-1724 annually. The estimated average response time is 10 minutes, for a total of 41,667 burden hours. The total burden represents burden hours, and SSA did not calculate a separate cost burden,

2. This collection does not impose a known cost burden to respondents.

2. The annual cost to the Federal Government is approximately $770,000. This estimate is a projection of printing and distributing the collection instrument and for collecting the information.

15. There has been a decrease in burden hours. Based on the most recent Management Information reports there has been a decrease in the number of cases. In addition, in February 2009, SSA requested to add an additional one-time 200,000 respondents for an outreach effort to individuals identified as potentially entitled to Title II disability insurance benefits. SSA is requesting to remove the additional 200,000 respondents, as SSA will send the one-time final notice without an attached SSA-1724, which will result in a decrease in the number of respondents.

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

16. OMB granted SSA an exemption from the requirement to print the OMB expiration date on its program forms. SSA produces millions of public-use forms with life cycles exceeding those of an OMB approval. Since SSA does not periodically revise and reprint its public-use forms (e.g., on an annual basis), OMB granted this exemption so SSA would not have to destroy stocks of otherwise useable forms with expired OMB approval dates, avoiding Government waste.

16. 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 does not use statistical methods for this information collection.