[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 20, Volume 2]
[Revised as of April 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 20CFR422.120]

[Page 1075-1076]
 
                      TITLE 20--EMPLOYEES' BENEFITS
 
               CHAPTER III--SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
 
PART 422_ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURES--Table of Contents
 
                      Subpart B_General Procedures
 
Sec. 422.120  Earnings reported without a social security number or with 
an incorrect employee name or social security number.

    (a) Correcting an earnings report. If an employer reports an 
employee's wages to SSA without the employee's social security number or 
with a different employee name or social security number than shown in 
SSA's records for him or her, SSA will write to the employee at the 
address shown on the wage report and request the missing or corrected 
information. If the wage report does not show the employee's address or 
shows an incomplete address, SSA will write to the employer and request 
the missing or corrected employee information. SSA notifies IRS of all 
wage reports filed without employee social security numbers so that IRS 
can decide whether to assess penalties for erroneous filing, pursuant to 
section 6721 of the Internal Revenue Code. If an individual reports 
self-employment income to IRS without a social security number or with a 
different name or social security number than shown in SSA's records, 
SSA will write to the individual and request the missing or corrected 
information. If the employer, employee, or self-employed individual does 
not provide the missing or corrected report information in response to 
SSA's request, the wages or self-employment income cannot be identified 
and credited to the proper individual's earnings records. In such cases, 
the information is maintained in a ``Suspense File'' of uncredited 
earnings. Subsequently, if identifying information is provided to SSA 
for an individual whose report is recorded in the Suspense File, the 
wages or self-employment income then may be credited to his or her 
earnings record.
    (b) Returning incorrect reports. SSA may return to the filer, 
unprocessed, an employer's annual wage report submittal if 90 percent or 
more of the wage reports in that submittal are unidentified or 
incorrectly identified. In such instances, SSA will advise the filer to 
return corrected wage reports within 45 days to avoid any possible IRS 
penalty assessment for failing to file correct reports timely with SSA. 
(See also Sec. 422.114(c).) Upon request, SSA may

[[Page 1076]]

grant the employer a 15-day extension of the 45-day period.

[60 FR 42434, Aug. 16, 1995]