Recently, the Social Security Administration (SSA) began mailing informational notifications to businesses who submitted wage and tax statements (Form W-2) that contain name and Social Security number (SSN) combinations that do not match their records. The SSA encourages employers to register for Business Services Online (BSO) to ensure the accuracy of wage reporting.
Beginning in spring 2019, the SSA will notify each employer with at least one W-2 form where the name and SSN do not match their records and corrections are needed.
What Steps Should You Take?
If you’ve received a “No-Match Letter” from the SSA, it does mean that an employee’s name and social security number (SSN) do not match in the government’s system. However, it does not necessarily mean that you, or your employee, have done anything wrong. In all likelihood, it is the result of a clerical error.
When you receive the letter, please do not ignore it. You should take reasonable steps to resolve the mismatch and you must apply the steps uniformly across all of your employees. Of course, you should also document and date your attempts to resolve the mismatch.
Specifically, you should:
- Check your records within 30 days of receipt of the letter to ensure that your records are correct. You must also verify that the information you provided to us is correct.
- Ask the employee to confirm the accuracy of your records.
- If necessary, ask the employee to resolve the issue with the SSA.
To verify all Social Security Numbers in our system for all of our customers, we send electronic files to the SSA. If there are any discrepancies, we forward a free report of those inconsistencies to you every quarter. You can also verify the employee’s name and SSN match by going to the SSA website here.
We also offer E-Verify services, so you can check the SSN of your new hires and confirm that they’re eligible to work in the United States at the same time.
Source: The Office of Retirement and Disability Policy, Social Security Administration
