Employers and employees, be aware that you could be receiving name/SSN no-match letters at home from the SSA {Social Security Administration} – learn what it means and how to respond to such a letter. Information contained in this article is from the General Ledger – the Complete Newsletter for Professional Bookkeepers, published by the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers.
The SSA started sending out name/SSN no-match letters again in March of this year to employer and employee or self-employed at home. The new notices have one mismatch per letter and are called “Decentralized Correspondence” (DECOR). SSA wants to make sure that a worker’s earnings are posted to the right account. Exception: SSA will not be sending no-match letters for tax years 2007-2009.
SSA recommends responding to a no-match letter as follows:
- check your records to see if there is a discrepancy in the records submitted to SSA,
- ask the employee to check his/her records to determine if the information was accurately recorded/reported,
- instruct the employee to contact the SSA to resolve any discrepancy.
- provide the employee a reasonable amount of time to resolve the discrepancy (“reasonable” is not defined, but the “suggested” period is 120 days, the period used by E-Verify – but circumstances can change this); and
- document your efforts to resolve the matter.
There is no specific guidance on your obligations for responding to a no-match letter from the SSA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC). But OSC offers some general guidance for setting up a response plan:
- Keep in mind that name/SSN no-matches can result from typos, misread numbers, name changes, etc.
- Check no-matches against your personnel records.
- Inform the employee of a no-match notice and request and confirm the name/SSN in your personnel records.
- If the employee confirms your records as correct, advise the employee to contact SSA to correct and/or update his or her SSA records.
- Give the employee a reasonable period of time to work out a reorted no-match with the local SSA office.
- Periodically meet with or contact the employee to findout about and document the status of his/her efforts to resolve the no-match.
- If the employee offers to supply a document that may resolve the no-match, review it carefully.
- Submit employer or employee corrections to the SSA.
Follow the same procedures for all employees, regardless of citizenship or national origins. Failure to do so may spark discrimination lawsuits against your company.
OSC also offers some don’ts:
- Don’t use the receipt of a no-match notice alone as a basis to terminate, suspend or take any other adverse action against the employee.
- Don’t try to immediately re-verify the employee’s employment eligibility – e.g., don’t ask the person to hand in a new I-9 solely because of a no-match letter.
- Don’t require specific I-9 documents to deal with the no-match letter.
- Don’t require the employee to provide a receipt of a request for an SSN or name change. (OSC points out that SSA receipts may not always be obtainable.)
Key Point: A no-match letter recipient is not required to respond. But if you don’t, the SSA may share the information with the IRS or Justice Department.
To avoid getting a no-match letter, use SSA’s:
- SSN Verification Services (SSNVS) at www.ssa.gov, click on Business Services Online, second link, far left; or
- Employer Verification (TNEV), an automated telephone service that allows registered users to verify names or SSNs over the phone without talking to an agent – call 800-772-1213 and at the prompt say “Employer SSN Verification”.
Federal law prohibits using SSNVS or TNEV for work authorizations – use it only to verify a current employee’s SSN.
I hope you’ve found this article helpful – if so, please take a moment to leave a comment and feel free to share this information with others on your favorite social media site.
If you have 100 or more employees or are a federal contractor, you likely must file the EEO-1, VETS-100, or VETS-100A forms. Find out what your obligations are and why the VETS reporting has been delayed in this article from HR Matters.
The deadline is approaching for many employers to report to the federal government the ethnic, racial, gender, and veteran composition of their workforces. Specifically, if you are a covered employer, you must file the Employer Information Report, Form EEO-1, by September 30, 2011. But, thanks to a technical glitch, the VETS-100 and VETS-100A forms are not due until November 30, 2011.
Employer Information Report, Form EEO-1
As a reminder, private employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees and a contract of $50,000 or more are required to submit annual EEO-1 reports to the Joint Reporting Committee (JRC), a committee of the EEOC and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). These reports track employee data by race, ethnicity, sex, and job classification. The EEOC uses the data to support enforcement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and to analyze employment patterns. The OFCCP uses the information to target employers for compliance evaluations.
The EEO-1 must be filed each year by September 30. Employment figures from any pay period in July through September may be used. Online reporting is the preferred method of filing, though employers are permitted to file paper reports.
Currently, there are seven race/ethnicity categories: Hispanic or Latino, White, Black or African-American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. (As you may recall, the EEO-1 report got a major overhaul in 2007 as a result of findings from the 2000 census that increased the number of race/ethnicity categories from five to seven.) To obtain the information, you are directed to ask employees to self-identify voluntarily. If an employee declines to self-identify, you can rely on visual identification of the employee or post-employment records. The EEO-1 instruction booklet includes sample language, in Section 4 of the instructions’ appendix, that you can use in an employee questionnaire on race and ethnicity to explain the EEO-1 voluntary self-identification process.
The EEOC has provided helpful information on the EEO-1 Report on its Web site at http://www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/index.cfm, including a a copy of the EEO-1 instruction booklet, online at http://www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/upload/instructions_form.pdf
VETS-100 and VETS-100A
Certain federal contractors, regardless of the number of employees, also must file the VETS-100 or VETS-100A form. The VETS-100 and VETS-100A require you to report the number and job classifications of the veterans you employ, and like the EEO-1 report, normally are due September 30. This year, though, because of “technical problems” (according to the special announcement posted on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Veterans’ Employment and Training Service Web site), contractors will not be able to begin filing online until October 1, 2011, and then will have until November 30, 2011, to submit their forms.
Which contractors must file the VETS-100, versus the VETS-100 A, is a bit confusing, however, thanks to a statutory increase in the contract threshold size that was formally implemented in 2008. The contract threshold size was increased from $25,000 to $100,000 by the 2002 Jobs for Veterans Act, which initially was scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2003. The law also changed the categories of veterans covered that employers must report. However, the DOL did not issue implementing regulations until May 2008, and as a result, the $100,000 threshold and new reporting categories were not implemented until 2008.
According to the regulations, found in 29 C.F.R part 61-250, the VETS-100 form must be filed only by federal contractors with current contracts of at least $25,000 entered into before December 1, 2003. Federal contractors that entered into a contract of at least $100,000 or more on or after December 1, 2003, must file the VETS-100A according to regulations found in 29 C.F.R. part 61-300. Further, contractors that modified contracts entered into before December 1, 2003, and the modified contracts are now worth $100,000 or more also must file the new VETS-100A.
Employment figures from any one pay period ending between July 1 and August 31 of the current year may be used for the VETS forms. As with the EEO-1 report, online reporting is the preferred method of filing, though employers are permitted to file paper reports. If you have questions about either the VETS-100 or VETS-100A, you may direct them to the VETS-100 Help Desk at (866) 237-0275 or via e-mail to VETS100-customersupport@dol.gov. Information about the filing requirements and sample forms from 2010 are available online at http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/fcp/main.htm
Additional Resources provided by HR Matters:
- Download a free Equal Employment Opportunity model policy including HR best practices and legal background – you will need to create a free access account to download the information.
- Contact them TODAY to at (800) 274-6774 to order the CD of their Audio Conference being held today on the Federal Contractor’s Affirmative Action Plan: How to Prepare for New OFCCP Enforcement mention Conference Code PPSE.
This article is being republished with permission.
© 2011 Personnel Policy Service, Inc. All Rights Reserved. HR Matters is a registered trademark of: Personnel Policy Service, Inc. 159 St. Matthews Ave., Suite 5, Louisville, KY 40207 Tel: 1-800-437-3735 – Fax: 1-800-755-7011
Do you have to reverify an employee’s Form I-9 if his driver’s license expires? What about if an employee’s work authorization expires? The answer is no for one, but yes for the other. Find out which situations require reverification. From HR Matters E-Tips.
Question: When do we need to reverify the Form I-9? Do we have to reverify if an employee’s driver’s license or passport expires? What about when we rehire former employees? Are there other times that we have to reverify an employee’s Form I-9?
Answer: The Form I-9, otherwise known as the Employment Eligibility Verification Form, must be completed and kept on file for each new employee and also must be reverified in certain limited circumstances. You do not need to reverify the Form I-9 when an employee’s driver’s license expires. According to the “Handbook for Employers: Instructions for Completing Form I-9,” publication M-274, provided by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), employers do no to reverify the Form I-9 when an employee’s identity document expires (List B documents), such as a driver’s license. In addition, the handbook states that you never have to reverify a U.S. citizen’s status, except when they terminate and are rehired (see below). So if a current employee’s passport expires, you do not have to reverify that employee’s Form I-9 either. (You can find a copy of the M-274 online at http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/m-274.pdf)
Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act regulations found in 8 C.F.R. §§274a.2(b)(1)(vii) and 274a.2(c) that explain the Form I-9 requirements, you must reverify work eligibility in two circumstances: (1) if an individual’s employment authority expires; or (2) if an individual who was previously employed by the organization is rehired. Reverification may be handled on the Form I-9 originally completed for the employee.
If an employee’s work authorization expires, you must reverify in Section 3 of the Form I-9 that the employee is still authorized to work in the United States. Reverification must be completed no later than the date on which the employment authorization expires.
The employee must present proof of employment eligibility in the form of any of the documents allowed by the Form I-9 to show continuing eligibility or a new grant of authorization to work. The employee does not have to present a new version of the same document presented initially. Further, you cannot accept receipts showing that the employee has applied for an extension of an expired employment authorization document. When received, you should note the new document’s identification number and expiration date on the Form I-9.
(Note that reverification is not required simply because an employee’s resident alien card (also known as the Form I-551, Permanent Resident Card, or “Green Card”) expires. These cards are typically issued with a 10-year expiration date, no expiration date, or a 2-year expiration date. In these cases, the employee’s worker eligibility status has not expired, only the card has. However, a new employee may not use an expired resident alien card initially to show employment eligibility and authorization. See the “Handbook for Employers: Instructions for Completing Form I-9,” publication M-274.)
When you rehire a former employee, you may update the ex-employee’s original Form I-9 if the ex-employee is rehired within three years of the original hire date and the form indicates that the individual is still eligible for employment. You then simply can note the date of rehire on the form. If the previously completed Form I-9 shows that the individual’s employment authorization has expired, you must reverify the individual’s employment eligibility according to the Form I-9 requirements and record the document’s identification number and expiration date on the Form I-9.
An individual is considered to be continuing in employment rather than a rehire (and therefore not subject to the reverification requirements) if he reasonably expected to resume employment and: (1) was on a paid or unpaid temporary leave of absence approved by the employer; (2) was promoted or demoted; (3) was temporarily laid off due to lack of work; (4) was on strike or in a labor dispute; (5) was reinstated by a court or settlement after a wrongful termination; (6) was transferred from one distinct unit of the employer to another; (7) continues employment with a related successor, or reorganized employer; or (8) is engaged in seasonal employment.
——————————
From HR Matters E-Tips, a free service of Personnel Policy Service, Inc., 159 St. Matthews Ave., Suite 5, Louisville, KY 40204
As described in press release IR 2011-31, the IRS issued interim guidance to employers, Notice 2011-28, on informational reporting of each employee’s annual Form W-2 of the cost of health insurance coverage they sponsor for employees. The IRS is also requesting comments on this interim guidance.
The new reporting to employees is for their information only – to inform them of the cost of their health coverage, and does not cause excludable employer-provided health coverage to become wages or income to be subject to tax. The cost will be reported in Box 12 wit Code DD on Forms W-2.
The Affordable Care Act provides that employers are required to report the cost of employer-provided health care coverage on the Form W-2. Notice 2010-69, issued last fall, made this requirement optional for all employers for the 2011 Forms W-2 (generally furnished to employees in January 2012).
Notice 2011-28 provides relief for smaller employers (those file with the SSA fewer than 250 Forms W-2 for the previous year) by making this requirement optional for them at least for 2012 Forms W-2. Therefore, any employer that files fewer than 250 Forms W-2 for 2011 (generally furnished in 2012) will not be subject to the requirements for 2012 Forms W-2. the relief for small employers will continue until further guidance is issued.
Other types of relief that will apply for 2012 and until further guidance include exceptions for:
- multiemployer plans
- separate dental and/or visions plans, and
- Forms W-2 that are furnished to employees who terminate before the end of a calendar year and request a Form W-2 before the end of the year.
For employers that are subject to the reporting requirement for 2012 Forms W-2 (or choose to report the cost of health care coverage on 2011 Forms W-2), the notice explains:
- how to calculate the cost of coverage, generally including amounts paid by the employer and employee, but also covering methods for self-insured plans;
- how to treat salary reductions for health flexible spending arrangements; and
- that employers will not be required to issue a Form W-2 to anyone to whom the employer would not otherwise issue one (such as retirees with continuing health benefits).
More information about the tax provisions in the Affordable Care Act is on the ACA page of IRS.gov.
