Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations require us to report when we directly pay fees of $600 or more to a representative in a calendar year.

Effective 2021 (for tax year 2020), we report these payments on Form IRS 1099-MISC (Miscellaneous Income) for representatives who receive fees for work as employees of business entities, and Form IRS 1099-NEC (Nonemployee Compensation) for representatives who operate as sole proprietors or representatives affiliated with employers who are not registered with us. In years prior to 2020, we used the 1099-MISC to report fees we directly paid to both entity employees and sole proprietors.

To help representatives and their employers reconcile financial accounts for tax purposes, representatives can use the Form 1099-MISC they receive as employees or affiliates of a registered entity.

Representatives may affiliate with and work for multiple firms or business entities concurrently. If representatives want to receive statements reporting only the fees received directly as employees of an entity, the entity must register with us using Form SSA-1694 (Request for Business Entity Taxpayer Information).

When an entity successfully registers with us, we will send Form 1099-MISC on an annual basis to employees affiliated with an entity who registered using the SSA-1694. We will send Form 1099-NEC on an annual basis to representatives recognized in our records as sole proprietors or representatives affiliated with entities who are not registered with us. Both the 1099-MISC and the 1099-NEC will summarize direct payments of $600 or more that we made to representatives for services rendered in the previous tax year.

The business entity, or a representative affiliated with the entity, may take action to submit a completed SSA-1694. To ensure quick and timely processing of the SSA-1694, the information on the form should be accurate and completed in its entirety.

The SSA-1694 is a paper form. A fillable PDF version of the form is available here: Form SSA-1694.

Business entities or representatives may submit the SSA-1694 to the Office of Earnings and International Operations (OEIO) by faxing the completed form to 1-877-268-3827, which is the preferred method for faster processing.

The SSA-1694 can also be submitted by mail or hand delivered the SSA-1694 to the local Social Security office. Employers/business entities or representatives can identify the address for their local Social Security office by using Social Security’s Office locator accessible at https://www.ssa.gov/locator/ (by clicking the “Locate An Office By Zip” button), or by calling us at 1-800-772-1213.

If Form SSA-1694, is received in the FO, the FO technician should review the form for completeness. If the form is complete:

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  Enter the entity’s information in the Firm Tax (FRMT) screen in RASR (see MS 09105.001), and then

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  Fax the SSA-1694 to the Office of Earnings and International Operations (OEIO) at 1-877-268-3827 for additional processing.

When the SSA-1694 is received in OEIO via fax, all actions are taken from start to finish by the OEIO staff.

If the form is incomplete or illegible, attempt to reach the representative by telephone and request the missing information. Record the contact attempt on the Report of Contact (ROCD) screen in RASR. If phone contact is unsuccessful, mark the form “Incomplete – Return Unprocessed” and return it by mail to the representative along with a completed Form SSA-4903-OP1.