TN 2 (09-20)

RM 03849.003 Abandonments

An individual’s earnings discrepancy request is considered abandoned when they prevent reconciliation of their earnings record by one of the following:

  1. 1. 

    The individual refused to permit the field office (FO) to disclose their name to an employer where necessary.

  2. 2. 

    The individual refused to produce all obtainable and/or available evidence.

When an earnings discrepancy request is abandoned by the requester, process the earnings discrepancy per the applicable instructions below:

A. If discrepant periods are open to correction and no evidence was submitted:

  1. 1. 

    Approve any acceptable determination on Form SSA-553 prepared by the FO.

    NOTE: Do not prepare a determination if there is none with the case. The closeout letter will serve as the determination.

  2. 2. 

    Prepare a closeout letter to the individual. Include all applicable paragraphs with regard to the amount of their earnings. Also, inform the individual of the reason for determining they are not entitled to a revision of the earnings record.

B. If discrepant periods are open to correction and insufficient evidence was submitted to establish earnings:

  1. 1. 

    Approve or prepare an acceptable determination on Form SSA-553, or annotate evidence to this effect.

  2. 2. 

    Prepare a closeout letter to inform the individual the reason why we determined they are not entitled to a revision of their earnings record.

C. When discrepant periods are barred:

  1. 1. 

    If evidence was submitted, approve or prepare a short determination on Form SSA-553 explaining the statute of limitations and the reason(s) why no adjustments can be made, or annotate any evidence to this effect.

  2. 2. 

    Write a closeout letter to the individual, including an appropriate barred period paragraph.

D. If field office development is not necessary, close the case approve or prepare the determination on Form SSA-553.

 

E. If further development is required, return the case to the FO for additional investigation.

NOTE: Request the FO to contact IRS about self-employment (SEI) that cannot be located if the Office of Central Operations (OCO) records show SEI posted for other years, although the taxpayer was uncooperative and abandoned their case.

 


To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0103849003
RM 03849.003 - Abandonments - 09/16/2020
Batch run: 09/16/2020
Rev:09/16/2020