Effective September 1, 2004, the Single Payment System (SPS) processing of the assessment
differs depending on the Payment Identification Code (PIC) cluster. The key difference
between the two clusters is whether SPS considers paid user fee amounts already on
the SPS database when calculating the assessment.
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PICs of A, D, E, and W generally are associated with the person who is the primary
claimant for purposes of representation (i.e., the person who appointed the representative
or on whose behalf the representative was appointed). For these PICs, SPS does not
consider paid assessments already on the SPS database.
EXAMPLE: SSA is paying the fee based on a new period of disability, and a user fee amount
is on the database. SPS will disregard the previous assessment payment and correctly
calculate the assessment.
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PICs of B and C generally are associated with an auxiliary beneficiary for purposes
of representation. For these PICs, SPS considers paid assessment fee amounts already
on the SPS database.
Most actions are automated because of these defaults, but manual processing will be
required in some cases. For example, a child (PIC C) may in fact be the primary claimant
for the purpose of representation (i.e., the person who appointed the representative
or on whose behalf the representative was appointed). In this situation, SPS may not
process the assessment correctly on its own. Refer to GN 03920.019M.2., which identifies manual processing situations.