When SSA makes direct fee payment, SSA is required to charge an assessment, also called a “user fee” or “service charge,” to an attorney or non-attorney representative who receives their fee via direct payment from SSA. The Social Security Protection Act of 2004 provided for:

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  capping the assessment at a flat-rate dollar amount or at 6.3 percent of the fee payment, whichever is lower; and

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  adjusting the flat-rate cap based on annual cost-of-living adjustments rounded down to the next lower $1.

NOTE: Refer to GN 03920.019 for the current assessment fees and to GN 03920.017D for direct payment calculations.

For information on processing the assessment in title II cases and for guidance in calculating an assessment in special situations, such as when there is more than one representative, see GN 03930.066.

The CR is responsible for calculating the assessment and coding the assessment on the Supplemental Security Record (SSR) through the A-OTP process. The assessment is a flat rate cap based on the cost of living adjustment or 6.3 percent of the fee payment, whichever is lower.

The procedures in GN 03930.032 identify when to apply the assessment. When SSA makes direct payment from the claimant’s and the claimant’s eligible spouse’s past-due benefits to pay the claimant’s representative’s fee, the total assessment deducted from both cannot exceed the flat rate cap based on the cost of living adjustment .

The maximum assessment SSA will deduct from fees paid directly from title II and title XVI past-due benefits is flat rate cap based on the cost of living adjustment. When the CR makes direct payment from title XVI withheld past-due benefits, the CR will query the Single Payment System to determine the amount of the assessment deducted from the title II direct payment amount.

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  If SSA deducted the flat rate cap based on the cost of living adjustment, the CR will not deduct an assessment from the portion of the fee payable from the withheld title XVI past-due benefits.

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  If SSA deducted less than the flat rate cap based on the cost of living adjustment, the CR will deduct 6.3 percent of the amount payable, up to a maximum of the difference between flat rate cap based on the cost of living adjustment and the assessment SSA has already collected.

To determine the assessment deducted from the title II direct payment amount:

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  Select number 27 on the SSA Main menu.

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  Select number 1 – SPS, on the Payments Outside Title II System (POTS) screen.

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  On the SPSM screen enter the social security number and select #1-Attorney Fee Payment to access the screen with the direct fee payment and assessment deducted amounts.

(See SM 00834.000, Single Payment System.)