On November 2, 2015, the President signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015
(BBA). Section 824 of the BBA (Section 824) authorizes the Commissioner to enter into
information exchanges with payroll data providers for the purposes of improving program
administration of the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) programs, and preventing improper payments under these programs.
Payroll data providers are defined in the law as payroll providers, wage verification
companies, and other commercial or non-commercial entities that collect and maintain
data regarding employment and wages, without regard to whether the entity provides
such data for a fee or without a cost. Section 824 defines information exchanges as
the automated comparison of our system of records with records of payroll data providers.
Section 824 grants the Commissioner the authority to request authorization from any
person filing for or receiving SSDI or SSI benefits and from any SSI deemor or SSI
ineligible child to obtain such person’s wage and employment information via the information
exchange. Providing authorization to obtain wage and employment information via the
information exchange is optional, meaning we cannot use a refusal or revocation of
authorization to deny or suspend benefits. If a person refuses or revokes his or her
authorization, we will not obtain his or her wage and employment information via the
information exchange. However, we can still verify wages using other wage verification
methods as described in SI 00820.135.
Individuals who provide us with their authorization may have reduced reporting responsibilities
and may receive protection from certain penalties, such as administrative sanctions,
pursuant to section 1129A and section 1631(e)(2) of the Social Security Act. We will
be collecting authorization from individuals prior to implementation of the information
exchange, which will occur sometime in the future. An individual may be afforded protection
from these penalties and reduced reporting responsibilities only after the information exchange is operational. We will provide formal notification
once the information exchange is in place.
NOTE: A person’s authorization for third party disclosure as provided on the SSA-8510 and
Personal Information Authorization screen in Modernized Supplemental Security Income
Claims System (MSSICS) does not constitute a person’s authorization to obtain wage
and employment information authorization as discussed in this section. Similarly,
authorization to contact employers on the SSA-820/821 does not constitute the wage
and employment information authorization.