The Social Security Statement (Form SSA-7005-SM-OR, SSA-7005-SM-OL, SSA-7005-SM-SI, or Form SSA-7005-SM-OR) is the form used to provide people who have worked under the Social Security program with information regarding their reported earnings, estimates of the tax contributions they and their employers have paid, and the potential benefits that they and their families may qualify for based on those earnings. The Statements may be issued automatically or on request. Section 1143 of the Social Security Act specifies the personal information that SSA must include on the form.

This is the online version (OL) of the Social Security Statement (Form SSA-7005-SM-OL version). SSA provides it behind my Social Security to all eligible workers with an account. With more people preferring to do business online, and budget restrictions not allowing SSA to mail to all eligible workers, this is the way an increasing number of people receive their Statement. They can check as often as they like, but are sent an email three months before their birthday to log-in to their my Social Security account and check their Statement.

SSA provides the Social Security Statement (Form SSA-7005-SM-SI version) automatically to specified eligible individuals defined in section 1143 of the Act. This version of the Statement is mailed automatically (systems initiated, or SI) to selected SSN holders age 60 and older, who have not registered for a my Social Security account and who are not receiving benefits.

This version of the Social Security Statement (Form SSA-7005-SM-OR) is sent in response to an SSN holder’s request (on request, or OR). Requester’s may mail SSA a completed paper Form SSA-7004-SM, Request for a Social Security Statement (see RM 01301.014). The on-request Statement is highlighted in blue.

This version is a one-page Statement sent automatically to those SSN holders who have only non-covered earnings. It contains information about the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset (WEP/GPO).

This version is a one-page Statement sent in response to a request to individuals who have only non-covered earnings. It contains information about WEP and GPO.

This version is a one-page Statement provided online in my Social Security to individuals who have only non-covered earnings. It contains information about WEP and GPO.

Section 1143 of the Act (see RM 01305.001A) defines “eligible individuals”as persons age 25 and older who have an SSN and wages or net earnings from self-employment posted to their earnings record. It further describes them as persons who are not yet receiving Title II Social Security benefits and for whom the Commissioner of Social Security can determine a current mailing address. (See RM 01305.005B for the selection process.)

We make Statements available to all eligible individuals behind my Social Security and mail them automatically to people age 60 and older, who have not registered for a my Social Security account and who are not receiving benefits and do not have an application for benefits pending.

The PEBES system is the processing system that prepares the personal information for the Social Security Statement. It uses information from the Master Earnings File (MEF) together with information supplied by the requester or by the front-end selection process for automatic Statements to prepare the display of year-by-year earnings and to calculate earnings, credits and benefit estimates. We provide output from the PEBES system to the Customer Communications Management (CCM) platform and then to the commercial contractor who prints and mails automatic Statements. On request Statements are printed and mailed by the SSA Print/Mail Facility (PMF). The Statement API is a modern system that uses information from our back-end systems to generate the online Statement PDF through CCM.

PEBES ONLINE is the query system that FO and TSC personnel can use to view benefit estimates. PEBES Online displays three benefit estimates while the Statement displays nine.

The Statement History File is an electronic file that contains pertinent processing information such as when the last on request (OR) and systems initiated (SI) Statement was issued for each SSN holder, the language it was in, or whether manual processing actions are currently in progress. The File can be queried online. (See RM 01305.020).

Numident is SSA’s numerical master file of Social Security number holders.

The MBR is SSA’s Master Beneficiary Record, the database that lists those persons who have filed claims for Social Security benefits.

The MEF is SSA’s Master Earnings File, the database that contains SSN holders’ recorded earnings.

WMS (Workload Management System) provides information about Title II benefit claims currently in process.

We provide Social Security Statements to eligible individuals who:

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  are age 18 or older,

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  have a Social Security number (SSN),

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  have any earnings on record (starting in 2006, the Form SSA-L7005-SM-(SI or OR) is generated for SSN holders who only have non-covered earnings),

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  are not receiving Title II benefits on their SSN, and

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  automatically mailed Statements only have a current mailing address we can determine.

We will not send automatic Social Security Statements to otherwise eligible individuals who:

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  have requested a Statement within the 11 months before they are selected to receive a Statement, or

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  have a pending claim for Title II or Medicare benefits in process

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  are currently receiving Title II benefits on their SSN,

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  are age 62 or older and receive Title II dependent's or survivor's benefits on someone else's SSN or

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  have a Title II processing limitation on their record. (See RM 01301.046 for an explanation of these limitations. However, recipients of automatic mailings will not receive an SSA-7014G. They will receive no correspondence at all.)

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  Have opted to not receive paper mailings by registering for a my Social Security account.

If an otherwise eligible individual does not get an automatic Statement for a reason such as no address available, no earnings on record, or a pending claim that is later denied or terminated, we will send that individual a Statement in the first year in which the exclusion no longer applies and they qualify to receive one.

We select the recipients and send their Statements about 3 months before their birth month. For example, those persons who are selected in the month of January have birthdays in April. However, this depends on funding. We may forward fund Statements and mail them earlier or later than 3 months before a person’s birthday.

We will get addresses for the automatic issuance of Social Security Statements from three sources:

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  For most SSN holders, we request addresses from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taxpayer Individual Master File. This file is the largest available database that can be accessed by SSN, and which has addresses provided by taxpayers themselves, generally at least yearly. We are authorized to use these IRS addresses by section 6103(m)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. 6103(m)(7)).

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  For individuals living in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands who do not have to file Federal income tax returns, we will use taxpayer files from the revenue agencies in those locations. We have agreements with the tax agencies of both Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to provide this information.

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  For people who receive Medicare benefits, we use the address stored on the MBR.

We use the PEBES processing system to identify the SSN holders to whom we will send automatic Statements, to procure their addresses from IRS, and to extract relevant personal information from SSA databases. Once we receive the addresses for the requested SSNs, we produce the Statement data using the same earnings, insured status, and computation software as used for Title II claims. We transmit the compiled information to CCM and then to the commercial printing contractor who prints the Statements and mails them to the individual SSN holders.

Section 1143 of the Act and our supporting regulations (20 CFR 404.812) specify what information SSA must include on each Statement. We will provide the following:

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  a statement as to whether the SSN holder meets the earnings credit requirements for each type of benefit;

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  if insured, estimates of potential retirement, disability, survivors and family benefits payable on the record;

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  if not insured for a particular type of benefit, a statement that explains why no estimate is given for that benefit;

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  year-by-year display of both Social Security-covered and Medicare-covered earnings as shown on SSA records as of the date the Statement is prepared;

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  aggregate estimates of Social Security and Medicare hospital insurance taxes that should have been paid on the earnings by the SSN holder and by the SSN holder's employers;

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  a description of coverage under Medicare;

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  a statement about the annual update of the record and a reminder that the Statement also is available upon request, and

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  general discussions of earnings and benefits.

If a person has only un-posted non-covered earnings, the system will send them the one-page Statement From Social Security for those persons having only non-covered earnings.

Subchapter RM 01310.000 discusses the Statement in detail and provides an exhibit of the redesigned form.

We print most automatic Statements in English. We issue automatic Statements in Spanish to residents of Puerto Rico whose address is provided by the government of Puerto Rico, where Spanish is the predominant language.

If an SSN holder contacts SSA to request a replacement Statement in the other language, the FO or TSC will send the person the appropriate Spanish or English version of Form SSA-7004-SM-OP1, Request for Social Security Statement. When the request form is completed and returned to SSA, the SSN holder will receive an on-request Statement in the desired language.

We do not re-mail Social Security Statements that are returned as undeliverable. These are destroyed without further processing. If SSN holders contact SSA because they have not received an automatic Statement at least one month before their month of birth and they believe the Statement may have been returned as undeliverable, the FO or TSC should refer the person to www.socialsecurity.gov/mystatement or send the inquirer an SSA-7004-SM-OP1 to request a Statement.