The Social Security Administration (SSA) has resumed sending so-called “no-match” letters to employers, resuming a process that was discontinued by the Obama Administration in 2012. The resumption of the no-match letters follows on the announcement by SSA in October of 2018 that it would start sending the letters out again sometime this spring.
A no-match letter is sent to an employer when the name and/or Social Security Number (SSN) on an employee’s W-2 form does not correspond to information in SSA’s database.
According to SSA, it resumed sending no-match letters to employers in March of this year based on information on W-2s submitted to the agency for tax year 2018. If a discrepancy is found, the letter – officially known as an “Employer Correction Request” – directs the employer to the Social Security Number Verification Services portal on SSA’s website where the employer can review the discrepancy and provide appropriate updates, such as W-2 corrections.
Based on past experience, many of the no-matches are due to clerical errors that can be resolved easily. When there is no obvious clerical error, however, the employer can be confronted with the difficult question of whether the person is authorized to work in the U.S.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.