Justification for the Non-Substantive Changes to 0960-0189

Justification for Non-Substantive Changes for

SSA-85, SSA-L8553-U3 & SSA-L8554-U3

Information Needed to Review Your Social Security Claim, Beneficiary Telephone Contact, Representative Payee Telephone Contact

OMB No. 0960-0189

Justification for Non-Substantive Changes to the Collection

Revisions to the SSA-L8533-U3 and SSA-L8554-U3:

• Change #1: In the section “What Will Happen When I Call You,” we are removing the third bullet and add that statement to the second bullet.

Justification #1: We are making this change so the notice to the beneficiary is easier to read. In this section, the first two bullets state something that will happen. The third bullet makes a statement about the Act that allows the review and states nothing about what will happen when the beneficiary is called.

• Change #2: Correct the first enclosure number on Form SSA L-8553-U3 to SSA‑8552

• Justification #2: We found a typographical error on the enclosure. The Form number should be SSA-8552 as stated in notice not SSA-8225. We are correcting this error.

Revisions to the SSA-85:

• Change #3: On page 1, we are including the following additional check boxes:

Box 6 should be – Death Certificates for      

Box 7 should be – Social Security numbers for all former spouses

Box 8 should be – Proof of military services

Box 11 should be – A copy of the earnings record for the account on which you are receiving benefits is enclosed. Please review the earnings and compare them with your records. I have highlighted some specific years that I would like to discuss with you.

If you disagree with any of these earnings, please have your records available at the time of the interview. W2 forms are the best evidence of wages. Tax returns and proof of filing are the best evidence of self employment wages.      

The last box should remain as Other.

Justification #3: We need to make these changes to request availability of information prior to telephone contact so that we can complete a thorough and accurate review of the beneficiary. We noted these changes on the previously approved Addendum, but the revised copy of form we sent for OMB approval did not show these changes. We are correcting this oversight now.

Justification for Resubmission of the Collection within One Year of OMB Approval

We inadvertently did not include the minor changes for the SSA-L8553-U3 and SSA‑L8554-U3 when we submitted the previous request for OMB approval. Therefore, we are requesting to update them now for better readability of the notice to the beneficiary.

We are including the revision to the SSA-85 change again, since we inadvertently did not include the change on the revised Form SSA-85 we submitted in 2017. We are submitting this again now to ensure OMB has the correct version of the form showing the revisions approved in October 2017.

SSA will implement the changes to the SSA-85, SSA-L8553-U3, and SSA-L8554-U3 upon OMB’s approval.

This action does not affect the public reporting burden.