SSNs under the Social Security Administration's Enumeration Verification System

AT-92-07

Publication Date: September 29, 1992
Current as of:

ACTION TRANSMITTAL

OCSE-AT-92-07

SEP 29, 1992

TO : STATE AGENCIES ADMINISTERING CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT PLANS APPROVED UNDER TITLE IV-D OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT AND OTHER INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS.

SUBJECT : VERIFICATION, IDENTIFICATION AND CORRECTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS (SSN) UNDER THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION'S (SSA) ENUMERATION VERIFICATION SYSTEM (EVS).

ATTACHMENT : INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMITTING REQUESTS FOR SUBMITTAL TO THE SSA EVS THROUGH THE OFFICE OF CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT (OCSE).

BACKGROUND : WHILE STATES MAY USE THE FEDERAL PARENT LOCATOR SERVICE TO IDENTIFY SSNs FOR NON- CUSTODIAL PARENTS, UNTIL NOW, THERE HAS NOT BEEN A SYSTEM AVAILABLE TO VERIFY SSNs. RECENTLY OCSE NEGOTIATED WITH SSA TO OBTAIN ACCESS TO THEIR EVS IN ORDER TO VERIFY SSNs FOR STATE AND LOCAL CHILD SUPPORT AGENCIES.

INQUIRIES TO : OCSE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS UNIT, (202) 401- 9389.

_________________________

Allie Page Matthews

Deputy Director

Office of Child Support

Enforcement

ENUMERATION VERIFICATION SYSTEM

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) have entered into an agreement to allow the State child support agencies, through OCSE, to participate in SSA's Enumeration Verification System (EVS).

States may participate in two 'systems' offered by SSA within the EVS. The first is 'System 212', which will provide a State with multiple Social Security Numbers (SSN) for an individual who has been legally issued more than one SSN. The second is 'System 220' which will provide a corrected SSN in cases where the State has made a transposition or slight error in the SSN that they currently have for that individual.

I.SUBMITTING REQUESTS

A. ELIGIBLE CASES

Only IV-D cases are eligible for submittal to System 212 and System 220. Submittal of cases to these systems by States can be of vital importance in helping to ensure the accuracy of SSNs for use in location, enforcement, and collection of child support.

In addition, verification of SSNs prior to submittal to the Federal Tax Refund Offset Program can potentially increase a State's total offset collections. Each year IRS identifies thousands of cases which do not match its master file because there is an invalid combination of name and SSN. By submitting these cases to the EVS, States will have the opportunity to correct some of the SSNs and thus increase the likelihood of an offset.

Another application of this new verification system is for case conversion during Statewide automation. States are encouraged to submit SSNs through the EVS prior to converting a case to the new system. In addition to receiving corrected and multiple SSNs for cases, States will receive other helpful information such as verification of the non-custodial parent's date of birth.

For optimal use of this new system, OCSE encourages States to submit pre-existing cases for verification and/or correction, and then periodically to submit incoming cases for verification.

B.GENERAL SUBMITTAL INFORMATION

oCases may be submitted by local child support offices as well as the State child support office. Local offices may have direct access if the IV-D Director designates the office as a local access point. The IV-D Director must notify OCSE in writing of the intent to give a local officedirect access. Initially, when a State or local child support office is ready to submit cases to the EVS, contact the OCSE Special Collections Unit to receive a State and Station Number.

oStates may submit cases on tape, cartridge or through PC entry. If a State or local jurisdiction uses a personal computer, you should first contact the Special Collections Unit to obtain a userid and password, and if necessary a SIMPC communications software packet. The State must also provide OCSE with a signed copy of the Computer User's Guide To Good Security Practices (Exhibit D) before action can be taken.

oDue to an SSA system limitations, a State may not submit more than 100,000 cases for each system at one time. If a State's entire caseload needing verification is greater than 100,000, States are encouraged to prepare multiple submissions. If more than 100,000 cases per system are received, the tape will be returned to the State for correction. If a State wishes to submit the same case to both Systems, a separate record must be submitted to each system. Please note that submissions for both systems can be combined on 1 tape. Therefore, as an example, a State may have a total of 200,000 cases on one tape - 100,000 cases for System 212, and 100,000 cases for System 220.

oSubmittals must be accompanied by a transmittal certification letter (Exhibit A).

oSubmittal format must conform to specification set forth in Exhibit B.

oFor System 212 the State must provide SSN, name, and date of birth.

oFor System 220 the State must provide SSN and name.

oFor those States that submit cases through more than one type of media for the same time period, (i.e., sending a tape and also inputting additional P.C. cases), these cases will be combined and returned on one tape.

It is important that States maintain a good quality control on cases to determine which ones have already been sent and which ones still need to be sent, to avoid duplicate processing of cases.

II.PROCESSING OF CASES

Once OCSE receives cases from States, they will be run through an edit run. Cases passing the OCSE edit will be forwarded to SSA on a daily basis for processing against the EVS. SSA has set a limit of 100,000 cases per day for each system. Processing atSSA can take from one to three weeks depending upon the volume of cases at SSA waiting to be processed. Once SSA has completed its processing, the results will be sent to OCSE and then to the requesting State (EXHIBIT C).

The results of System 212 will verify the SSN, name, date of birth and the sex of the non-custodial parent. If an individual has also been legally issued other SSNs, the system will return up to five other SSNs. The results of System 220 will verify the SSN and name only. The system will provide a corrected SSN in cases where a transposition or slight error has occurred. An example of this would be:

STATE SUBMITTED:112-34-0698

CORRECTED SSN :121-34-0698

OR

STATE SUBMITTED:108-65-2221

CORRECTED SSN :108-55-2221

III.BENEFITS OF THE EVS

OCSE did a test with two jurisdictions and the initial results are very encouraging. For System 212, Jurisdiction I and II received a combined total of 5092 cases with multiple SSNs. For tax offset purposes, it is possible to submit an individual's name twice if he/she has been legally assigned two or more SSNs. Since it is unknown which SSN the taxpayer will use to file his/her return, multiple submittals to IRS will serve to increase the likelihood of an offset.

SYSTEM 212 (MULTIPLE SSNs)

Jurisdiction I submitted 163,307 cases.

2,394 (1.7%) cases had multiple SSNs.

14,803 (9.06%) had the wrong date of birth.

10,881 (6.66%) cases did not match on name and SSN.

Jurisdiction II submitted 195,319 cases.

2,698 (1.7) cases had multiple SSNs.

10,357 (5.3%) had the wrong date of birth.

23,316 (11.93%) cases did not match on name and SSN.

SYSTEM 220 (CORRECTED SSNs)

Jurisdiction I submitted 163,307 cases.

4,669 (2.8%) cases did not match on name and SSN.

6,611 (4.0%) had corrected SSNs.

Jurisdiction II submitted 234,219 cases.

19,503 (8.32%) cases did not match on name and SSN.

9,658 (4.12%) had corrected SSNs.

For System 220 OCSE estimates that if these jurisdictions submitted the corrected SSNs to the Federal Tax Refund Offset Program, that based on a 31% hit rate and an average offset of $670, Jurisdiction I could potentially receive $1,373,500 (2,050 x $670) in additional collections. Likewise, Jurisdiction II could potentially receive $2,005,980 (2,994 x $670) in additional collections. Based upon these results, OCSE strongly encourages other jurisdictions to take advantage of the EVS in order to verify Social Security Numbers for non-custodial parents.

IV. CONCLUSION

To assist in your efforts to educate staff about this new system, we have included materials in EXHIBIT E which can be used as overheads in training. All questions regarding these instructions may be addressed to the Special Collections Unit on (202) 401-9389. Information may be faxed on (202) 401-5553. Please address all material to:

Office of Child Support Enforcement

Special Collections Unit

370 L'Enfant Promenade S.W.

Washington, DC 20447

EXHIBITS

PAGE

EXHIBIT A:TRANSMITTAL CERTIFICATION LETTER..........6

EXHIBIT B:INPUT TAPE SPECIFICATIONS FOR STATE TO

SUBMIT TO OCSE............................7

EXHIBIT C:OUTPUT TAPE SPECIFICATIONS OCSE RETURNS TO STATES....................................9

EXHIBIT D:COMPUTER USER'S GUIDE TO GOOD SECURITY

PRACTICES................................13

EXHIBIT E:PRESENTATION MATERIALS...................14

EXHIBIT A

ENUMERATION VERIFICATION SYSTEM TRANSMITTAL CERTIFICATION LETTER

TO:OCSE

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS UNIT

370 L'ENFANT PROMENADE, S.W.

WASHINGTON, DC 20447

FROM:STATE IV/D OR LOCAL ADDRESS AND CONTACT

DATE:

SYSTEM 212:

TAPE NUMBER: ______________________________

NUMBER OF CASES: ___________________________

SYSTEM 220:

TAPE NUMBER: ________________________________

NUMBER OF CASES: ____________________________

IF ENTRY SENT VIA PERSONAL COMPUTER, OR MITRON, PLEASE FILL OUT BELOW AND FAX TO (202) 401-5553.

PC ENTRY:

SYSTEM 212 NUMBER OF CASES: ___________________________

SYSTEM 220 NUMBER OF CASES: __________________________

MITRON TRANSMISSION: DATE: ___________________

SYSTEM 212 NUMBER OF CASES: _______________

SYSTEM 220 NUMBER OF CASES: _______________

PLEASE LIST CONTACT INFORMATION BELOW:

NAME _____________________________________

STATE/STATION ____________________________

PHONE ______________________