Supporting Statement for SSA-7163A-FA
Supplemental Statement Regarding Farming Activities of Person Living Outside the U.S.A.
OMB No. 0960-0103
Justification
Introduction/Authoring Laws and Regulations
Section 205(a) of the Social Security Act (Act) empowers the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) to make rules and regulations, and establish procedures necessary to determine an individual's rights to benefits. Section 203(c) of the Act requires the Commissioner to make deductions from benefits of entitled individuals who engage in remunerative activity outside the United States (U.S.) for more than 45 hours per month. To determine if someone is subject to this work test, SSA needs the dates of work; information to distinguish between employer and employee; and information to distinguish a farm operation from a rental or farm property. We design all questions to elicit a full description of the enterprise.
Description of Collection
When a beneficiary or claimant reports farm work from outside the United States,
SSA documents this work on Form SSA-7163A-F4. Specifically, SSA uses the form to determine if we should apply foreign work deductions to the recipient’s Title II benefits. We collect the information either annually or every other year, depending on the respondent’s country of residence. Respondents are Social Security recipients engaged in farming activities outside the United States.
Use of Information Technology to Collect the Information
SSA created fillable PDF versions of these forms, which are available for respondents to download, complete, and print from our website. In addition, we can send the fillable version to the respondents upon request. Due to the low volume of respondents for this form relative to the resources that would be required to make it electronic, we did not deem it a good candidate for electronic implementation.
Why We Cannot Use Duplicate Information
The nature of the information we collect and the manner in which we collect it preclude duplication. SSA does not use another collection instrument to obtain similar data
Minimizing Burden on Small Respondents
This collection does not significantly affect small businesses or other small entities.
Consequence of Not Collecting Information or Collecting it Less Frequently
If we did not use Form SSA-7163A-FA, SSA would be unable to determine whether to apply foreign work deductions. Because we collect the information on an as needed basis, we cannot collect it less frequently. There are no technical or legal obstacles to burden reduction.
Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances that would cause SSA to conduct this information collection in a manner inconsistent with 5 CFR 1320.5.
Solicitation of Public Comment and Other Consultations with the Public
The 60-day advance Federal Register Notice published on February 15, 2019, at
84 FR 4597, and we received no public comments. The 30-day FRN published on
May 22, 2019 at 84 FR 23623. If we receive any comments in response to this Notice, we will forward them to OMB. We did not consult with the public in the revision of this form.
Payments or Gifts to Respondents
SSA does not provide payments or gifts to the respondents.
Assurances of Confidentially
SSA protects and holds confidential the information it collects 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.
Justification for Sensitive Questions
The information collection does not contain any questions of a sensitive nature.
Estimates of Public Reporting Burden
Modality of Completion |
Number of Respondents |
Frequency of Response |
Average Burden Per Response (minutes) |
Estimated Total Annual Burden (hours) |
SSA-7163A-F4 |
1,000 |
1 |
60 |
1,000 |
The total burden for this ICR is 1,000 hours. We based these figures on current management information data. This figure represents burden hours, and we did not calculate a separate cost burden
Annual Cost to the Respondents (Other)
This collection does not impose a known cost burden on the respondents.
Annual Cost To Federal Government
The annual cost to the Federal Government is approximately $1,540. This estimate accounts for costs from the following areas: (1) designing, printing, and distributing the form; and (2) SSA employee (e.g., field office, 800 number, DDS staff) information collection and processing time.
Program Changes or Adjustments to the Information Collection Request
There are no changes to the public reporting burden.
Plans for Publication Information Collection Results
SSA will not publish the results of the information collection.
Displaying the OMB Approval Expiration Date
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.
Exceptions to Certification Statement
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).
Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
SSA does not use statistical methods for this information collection.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | May 2001 |
| Author | 673560 |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-20 |