The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced that it will resume sending so-called “no-match” letters to employers beginning sometime in the spring of next year after the end of the 2018 tax filing season. SSA intends to send a no-match letter 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, no-match letters will be sent to employers 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” – will direct the employer to the Social Security Number Verification Services portal on SSA’s website where the employer can review the incorrect information and provide appropriate updates, such as W-2 corrections.
Based on experience with the no-match letter process in the past, many of the no-matches are due to clerical errors of some sort that can be resolved easily. When there is no clear clerical error, however, an employer can be confronted with the question of what accounts for the discrepancy, and ultimately, whether the employee is authorized to work in the U.S.
A notice announcing that SSA will be renewing the no-match letter program is available here.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.