SSA - POMS: GN 00605.015 - Payees Exempt from the Annual Accounting Requirement

A. Introduction

This section provides guidance on the exemption of certain representative payees (payees) from the annual accounting requirement.

NOTE:

Payees who are exempt from the annual accounting requirement are NOT exempt from site reviews. The accounting exemptions do not apply to payee site reviews.

B. Policy

Section 102 of the Strengthening Protections for Social Security Beneficiaries Act of 2018, Public Law 115-165, amends sections 205 (j)(3) and 1631 (a)(2)(c) of the Social Security Act (the Act) to exempt the following payees from the accounting requirement:

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A natural or adoptive parent of a minor child entitled to Title II benefits and/or eligible for Title XVI payments who primarily resides in the same household as the beneficiary (Stepparents and grandparents are still required to complete accounting forms unless they qualify for the exemption under the legal guardian requirement immediately below);
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A legal guardian of a minor child entitled to Title II benefits and/or eligible for Title XVI payments who primarily resides in the same household as the beneficiary;
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A natural or adoptive parent of a disabled individual (as defined in section 223(d) of the Act) entitled to Title II benefits and/or eligible for Title XVI payments who primarily resides in the same household as the beneficiary (Stepparents and grandparents of a disabled individual are still required to complete accounting forms)

NOTE: When a disabled beneficiary who meets this criteria converts to retirement benefits upon attaining full retirement age, we still consider the beneficiary as exempt under this provision; or
•

The spouse of an individual entitled to Title II benefits and/or eligible for Title VIII or Title XVI payments.

SSA considers a payee who has physical custody of the beneficiary to primarily reside in the same household as the beneficiary. Physical custody means that the beneficiary actually lives with the payee. For more information about custody, see GN 00501.010B.9. You can review relationship and custody information on the Relationship Details screen in the electronic Representative Payee System. For more information about the Relationship Details screen, see MS 07420.010.

NOTE:

A payee that is the spouse of the beneficiary does not need to primarily reside in the same household to qualify for the accounting exemption. For example, the beneficiary may reside in a nursing facility and the spouse serving as the payee may reside at a different address.

C. Procedures

The agency stopped mailing annual and final accounting forms to exempted payees beginning June 22, 2018 for Title II and July 6, 2018 for Title XVI and concurrent cases.

1. Field Office (FO) and Processing Center (PC) guidance for annual/final accounting actions and the request for conserved funds

a. Annual and final accounting-exempted payees

The agency closed out all pending accounting actions in the Electronic Representative Payee Accounting (eRPA) system concerning mailers, non-responder, and exceptions for payees that are exempt from annual and final accounting. These closed out actions will be annotated with the remark, "No Action--Exemption per Public Law 115-165" under the "Case History" tab.

Regardless of when we requested the annual or final accounting report, do not pursue outstanding accounting form actions, including:

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Non-responder accounting cases,
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Exception accounting cases, and
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All follow-up actions.

If the FO identifies an exempt payee with a pending accounting action in eRPA follow these steps:

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do not pursue the outstanding accounting action,
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select the "Complete" link for the action in eRPA,
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annotate the note field with the remark "No Action-Exemption per Public Law 115-165",
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select resolution type "Approved", and
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click "Yes" to close the case.

Important: In non-responder cases the FO manager may have redirected the benefits to the FO. The FO must evaluate the payee for continued suitability and completed the SSA-624 as required. See GN 00605.085C.4. throguh GN 00605.085C.6. for more information on redirection of benefits.

b. Conserved funds-exempted payees

Exempted payees must still return conserved funds when the payee relationship terminates (see GN 00603.055 and GN 00603.130 for exceptions to the return of conserved funds). The final notice to former payees contains language requesting the return of conserved funds, see NL 00703.821.

2. FO procedures for dedicated accounts and payee reporting responsibility for exempted payees

a. Dedicated accounts

The agency must continue to monitor the dedicated accounts of exempted payees. When mailing the SSA-6233 (Representative Payee Report of Benefits and Dedicated Account):

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Complete the identifying information on the SSA-6233 (i.e. Payee Name, Address, Beneficiary Social Security Number, Report period, and Beneficiary Name) and the dedicated account information under Question 6. For more information on completing, mailing, and retaining the SSA-6233-BK, see GN 00605.215, and
•

Instruct the exempted payee to complete only Questions 6-8 on the SSA-6233.

b. Reporting responsibilities

Exempted payees must continue to adhere to reporting responsibilities and duties such as keeping detailed and accurate records of how they use benefits in order to provide an accurate report to SSA when requested. For more information on payee reporting responsibilities and duties, see GN 00502.114. Technicians should explain the reporting responsibilities and duties to all payees at the time of the payee application. When completing payee applications, technicians must accurately answer relationship and custodial questions to ensure the correct automation of the accounting process.

3. TSC procedures

If an exempted payee informs you that they did not receive an annual accounting report, inform the exempted payee that:

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certain payees no longer have to complete annual accounting reports, and
•

they must continue to adhere to reporting responsibilities and duties such as keeping detailed and accurate records of how they use benefits in order to provide an accurate report to SSA when requested

For any other payee related questions, continue to follow instructions in TC 30001.000 .

Direct all program-related and technical questions to your RO support staff or PC OA staff. RO support staff or PC OA staff may refer questions or problems to their Central Office contacts.

D. References

GN 00501.010 Definitions of Common Representative Payment Terms

GN 00502.114 Payee Responsibilities and Duties

GN 00603.055 Transfer of Conserved Funds

GN 00603.130 When Former Payee May Administer Conserved Funds

GN 00605.085 How to Handle Non-Responder (Third Alert) Cases

GN 00605.215 Complete, Mail, and Retain SSA-6233-BK

GN 00605.240 Representative Payee Report of Benefits and Dedicated Account

MS INTRANETERPS 020.010 Relationship Details

NL 00720.080 CFD Conserved Funds

TC 30001.000 Representative Payee - Table of Contents

Social Security

Program Operations Manual System (POMS)

GN 00605.015 Payees Exempt from the Annual Accounting Requirement