If the RZ is available in the office and the claimant meets the requirements in GN 00204.015C.1., use the date of the personal contact interview as the title II application filing date. For Data Operation Center RZs including low error profile RZs (SSA-8202-F6s received through the mail), use the date the RZ is received in the FO as the protective filing date. See GN 00204.007B for determining the receipt date.

Review the RZ history on the SSID or SSI4 query to determine the earliest RZ date where the claimant met title II entitlement or the filing before entitlement policy. Use the first day of the month and year in the RZ Initiation Date (RZI), RZ Completion Date (RZC) or RZ Clearance Date (RZD) field of the CRZD segment of the query as the protective filing date as follows (see SI 02305.034 for the definitions of these fields):

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  Use the RZI date if the claimant met title II entitlement criteria on the RZI date or before the RZC date.

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  Use the RZC date if the claimant first met title II entitlement criteria on the RZC date.

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  Use the RZD date if you know that a RZ was completed but the RZD date is the only date shown for the RZ entry on the query or the RZ was completed before 3/84.

EXAMPLE 1:

While conducting an RZ in 2/2001, the claims representative (CR) determines that Ms. Potter met title II insured status in 1999. Ms. Potter has been receiving SSI benefits since 2/97. The claimant’s certified earnings record (E/R) shows she earned 4 quarters of coverage in 1999. The claimant’s Supplemental Security Record (SSR) shows verified earnings of $1,000 in 2/99, which gave her the needed 1 quarter of coverage (QC) to meet insured status. A review of the SSID query shows a RZI date of 4/99. The CR uses the RZI date of 4/1/99 to establish the claimant’s title II filing date for retirement benefits since the NH first met insured status on that date.

EXAMPLE 2:

While conducting a RZ on Mr. Jones’ SSI record, the CR reviews his certified E/R, which shows that he earned the one QC he needed to meet title II insured status in 1999. He has been receiving SSI since 10/96. In reviewing the SSI query, the CR notes that a RZ was initiated in 10/99 (RZI date) and completed in 11/99 (RZC date). The claimant has no documentation to prove when he earned the money in 1999. The claimant alleges that the company he worked for is out of business. Since we have no evidence to prove when the money was actually earned, the CR assumes that Mr. Jones earned the 1 QC needed in the first quarter of 1999 as shown on the certified E/R. The CR uses the RZI date of 10/1/99 as the claimant’s title II filing date for retirement benefits since that is the earliest RZ date after the claimant met insured status.

EXAMPLE 3:

While conducting a review of the claims folder, the CR notes that the last RZ was completed in 4/98 (RZC date). The SSR shows verified earnings for 8/98 of $1500, which gave the NH the 2 QCs needed for insured status. No earnings were posted for any other month in 1998. The certified E/R shows the NH met insured status in 4/98. Since the CR has evidence that the NH earned the money to meet insured status after the RZC date of 4/98, the RZ is not a protective filing for title II benefits. The filing before entitlement policy does not apply because the NH earned the money to meet insured status after the RZ was completed.

If a title II application is taken in MCS, document the title II protective filing date using the Report of Contact (RPOC) screen. If the RPOC screen is not available or you are processing the application manually, use the Evidence screens to document the protective filing date.

If the claimant is potentially entitled to title II benefits, document the claimant’s filing decision per GN 00204.015C.5. If the claimant does not file a title II application at the time of the RZ interview, document the MSSICS Report of Contact (DROC) screen or remarks portion of the paper RZ with the date the protective filing closeout notice is issued or unconditional statement is obtained per GN 00204.012. Also, issue an SSA-L8051 notice whenever a title II application is not filed at the time of the RZ interview or an application is filed but the claimant does not elect full retroactivity.