Under IRS regulations, employers are
obligated to provide wage and tax data to the Social Security
Administration using Form W-2 or its electronic equivalent. As part
of this process, the employer must furnish the employee's name and
their Social Security number (SSN). The employee's name and SSN
must match SSA's records in order for the employee's earnings to be
properly posted to their Earnings Record, which is maintained by
SSA. In order to better assure that employers provide accurate name
and SSN data that match SSA's records, SSA offers several methods
for employers to verify the names and numbers of hired individuals.
SSA offers a free and secure Internet- based service, known as the
Social Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS), where the
employer can verify if the reported names and SSNs of their
employees matches SSA's records. SSA also offers a service,
Employee Verification Service (EVS), where employers can verify,
via cartridge, diskette, paper, and telephone if the reported name
and SSN of their employees matches SSA's records. Finally, through
our National 800 Number SSA is introducing an automated telephone
employee verification service (TNEV) that will ask callers for
pertinent information in order to first authenticate them and then
assist them with verifying an employee's SSN and name.
The burden reduction stems from
the elimination of the EVS paper verification process, its related
registration process, and the planned elimination of the Telephone
Number Employer Verification (TNEV) automated telephone application
(see Addendum for details). In addition, we previously based our
totals for these collections on estimated projections for each year
rather than data from previous years. We are correcting this now,
by using management information from FY 2011 to estimate the annual
numbers for the next three years. We acknowledge that our actual
usage is much lower than the predicted usage we estimated
previously; however, SSA still hopes more businesses will continue
to use SSNVS in the future.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.