The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: social security administration
Biden Fires Trump's Social Security Commissioner (Who Refused To Resign)

Biden Fires Trump's Social Security Commissioner (Who Refused To Resign)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a holdover from the Trump administration, but Saul told the Washington Post that he plans to be at work on Monday morning because his term isn't over. "Andrew Saul refused to resign as requested, and he was notified his employment as Commissioner was terminated immediately," said a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said Saul had taken "actions that run contrary to the mission of the agency and the President's policy agenda." Saul, who in 2019 was sworn...

Social Security’s Misunderstood Suspense File

Q: I recently heard a news report that said Social Security has several billion dollars in something called a suspense file. It has something to do with the taxes collected on fraudulent Social Security numbers. The report said this money is just sitting there, not earning interest and not being used for any constructive purpose. If this is true, it’s no wonder our government has such financial problems when there are large pools of unaccounted-for cash like this just lying around. Can you shed any light on this?

A: Ah, yes, the infamous “suspense file.” When I was the deputy press officer for the Social Security Administration, I don’t think a day went by when I didn’t field a call from a reporter somewhere in the country asking me about this alleged pile of cash supposedly lying around in some Social Security safe or other government vault.

But there is no pile of cash. There are no unaccounted-for and mismanaged funds that, once found, would miraculously solve all of Social Security financial woes. Here’s the real story.

Every single day, thousands of wage reports from employers representing millions of workers around the country trickle in to the Social Security Administration. (I guess since we’re talking numbers like thousands and millions, “trickle” is the wrong word. How about “flood?”) The reports contain the names, Social Security numbers, and earnings of anyone working at a job covered by Social Security. And it’s important to note that these files are just the wage reports needed to maintain Social Security’s earnings records for all Social Security number holders. The actual money withheld in Social Security taxes takes a completely separate path and goes directly to the Treasury Department.

In almost all cases, the name and Social Security number on the employer’s earnings report sent to SSA match a name and Social Security number in the agency’s records. So the Social Security records for all those folks get updated immediately. But in a relatively small percentage of the cases (the last I heard, it’s about 5 percent), the information supplied by the employer doesn’t match the information in Social Security’s files.

Many times, this is merely a problem of a transposed digit in a Social Security number on the employer’s report. Other times, it’s a simple name issue. For example, the employer’s report might show an employee named T. Robert Margenau, but SSA’s records show the name as Thomas R. Margenau. SSA’s computer software programs have “tolerances” built into them that recognize these easily explained discrepancies and post the earnings to the proper record.

But if the problem cannot be simply identified and readily fixed, then we have what SSA calls an “earnings discrepancy” case. The actions necessary to assign the earnings in question to the proper Social Security number account are temporarily suspended. Thus the term “suspense file” for all the earnings reports that have not yet been assigned to the proper Social Security number.

Many of the cases that go into the suspense file don’t remain there for very long. SSA works with the employer who submitted the report and/or with the employee in question to resolve the problem.

But in some cases, the problem can never be resolved. Many times, this is because there was some fraudulent activity involving a fake Social Security number or maybe someone using a deceased person’s Social Security number. Lots of these earnings reports remain in that suspense file for years and years.

And even though the percentage of such unresolved cases is very small, over decades, the numbers just keep adding up. And that is why today, there are about $300 billion in unrecorded earnings reports in the suspense file.

But please bear in mind that does not mean that $300 billion in cash is just lying around because no one knows what to do with it. Once again, the money collected in taxes, including the taxes collected in these earnings discrepancy cases, went directly from the employer to the Treasury Department and was used to finance Social Security checks sent out to all of the program’s beneficiaries. The only records sitting in the infamous suspense file are paper reports of earnings still waiting to be assigned to a proper Social Security number.

If you ask me, one way to help resolve this problem is to issue everyone a Social Security card that’s a full-fledged identity card — something with a picture and maybe some form of biometric identification. But that’ll never happen because folks on both sides of the political spectrum dislike the idea. Conservatives hate it because it would be one more example of big-brother government intruding into their lives. And liberals dislike the idea because it would take away from our civil liberties.

And so the suspense file will just keep growing and growing.

If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has the answer. Contact him at thomas.margenau@comcast.net. To find out more about Tom Margenau and to read past columns and see features from other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM

The Apple Giveth And the Orange Taketh Away

Q: I am 64 and receive Social Security retirement benefits, although I am still working part time. Last year, I got a letter from Social Security telling me that because of my extra earnings, they increased my monthly benefit — plus, I received a retroactive check that paid me the extra amount back to the beginning of the year. But just last month, I got a letter from Social Security telling me they want all that money back. The letter said that because of my extra earnings, I have been overpaid more than a thousand dollars.

I don’t get this! I have no intention of paying the money back because it was their fault for giving it to me in the first place. Can you help me understand?

A: I find myself spending a lot of time in this column talking about apples and oranges, and the messy fruit salad they can sometimes make. And that’s what’s going on in your case. You were paid the extra money last year because of one law that we’ll call the apple. And you’ve been asked to repay some funds because of another law that we’ll call the orange. I’ll explain.

First, we will discuss the apple. Let’s start with this premise: Your retirement benefit is essentially a percentage of your average monthly wage based on your highest 35 years of earnings. When you initially applied for Social Security, your benefit calculation was obviously based on the earnings that were posted to your Social Security account at the time. But you indicated that you are still working. That means you are adding new earnings to your Social Security record. And if those extra earnings raise your average monthly wage, they also increase your Social Security benefit.

The Social Security Administration has a computer program that tracks people’s earnings and automatically refigures their Social Security benefits to find out if any increase is due. This generally happens between May and October of each year. People who are due an increase get a letter (as you did last year), which informs of an increase in the monthly benefit and also of the retroactive payment due — because the increase is effective with January of each year. In other words, the increase you got last year (probably about June 2010) was based on your 2009 earnings that had been added to your Social Security record, and your increase was retroactive to January 2010.

SSA calls the computer program, which performs that annual recalculation of benefits, the “automatic earnings reappraisal operation” or AERO. But again, for the purposes of this column, I’m calling it the “apple.”

Now let’s talk about the orange.

If you are under age 66 and getting Social Security benefits, but you are still working, the law places a limit on how much money you can earn and still get all benefits you are due. For the past couple years, that limit has been $14,160 per year. So if you keep your outside earnings under that limit, you are eligible for all of your Social Security payments. But for each $2 you go over that limit, $1 must be held back from your benefits. So, for example, if you made $16,160 last year or $2,000 over the earnings limit, then SSA must hold back $1,000 from your Social Security benefits for that year.

People are supposed to notify SSA of their anticipated earnings, so benefits can be adjusted during the year in question. But if that doesn’t happen, SSA has a computer program that checks the prior year’s earnings to determine if a beneficiary made more than the annual earnings limit. If so, that program generates a letter to the beneficiary that advises him or her that he or she has been overpaid.

So, you got a letter this year (in 2011) telling you that because you made over the $14,160 limit last year, you were paid too much money in 2010. That means one-half of whatever you earned over $14,160 must be refunded to the government.

SSA refers to this computer operation as the “annual earnings test.” It checks to make sure those Social Security beneficiaries who earn over the annual earnings limit have had some of their benefits withheld. But for the purposes of this column, I’m calling it the “orange.”

Real apples and oranges are related in that they are both fruits, of course. The apple and orange computer programs I just explained are related because both are involved with your earnings. But they still are completely separate fruits … or computer programs. Each handles a separate aspect of Social Security law.

The apple program paid you the extra Social Security benefits you were due because you had extra earnings added to your Social Security account. The orange program is asking you to return some of your Social Security payments because you earned over the $14,160 annual earnings limit.

To deal with the overpayment, you have three choices. You can file an appeal if you disagree with the amount or with the fact that you are allegedly overpaid. If you agree with the overpayment decision, but you are convinced it was not your fault AND you can prove that repaying the money would be a financial hardship, you can ask that the overpayment be “waived” or written off. Your third choice is to simply repay what you owe the government. You can do so in a lump sum or by having them withhold your current benefits until the overpaid amount has been recovered.

If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has the answer. Contact him at thomas.margenau(at)comcast.net.

COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM