Monthly Wage Reporting And Supplemental Security Income (SSI) For Sheltered Workshops

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a needs-based program for people who are disabled, blind or aged. The amount an eligible person can receive is based in part on his or her income. You can help us make timely and accurate payments to people who get SSI and work in sheltered workshops by participating in electronic monthly wage reporting.

Each month, we need verification of income for people who work and receive SSI. To make accurate payments, we need this information as soon as the payroll for the month is complete. We also need to know when a person starts or stops working. Monthly wage reporting is an easy and secure way to verify wages—and it benefits everyone involved.

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Benefits

• To the person receiving SSI—regular reporting will result in accurate and timely monthly SSI payments and letters that inform of any changes in payment amount.

• To the workshop—sending payment information electronically is fast and easy. Timely, accurate benefit payment notices may help to free your staff for other important work.

• To Social Security—our goal is to make accurate payments on time. Automated monthly wage reporting helps us achieve this goal.

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Technical requirements

To automate monthly wage reports, we need a plain text file with the name of the SSI recipient, the Social Security number and wage amounts (along with Impairment-Related Work Expenses, if applicable).

We will work with your staff to find the easiest way for you to obtain the wage information from your existing payroll records. Then, you can join the many other sheltered workshops now reporting wages electronically each month.

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Timeframes

Contact us to set up a meeting to discuss electronic wage reporting. At the meeting, it would be helpful to have both an administrator and someone familiar with the workshop’s data processing and payroll environment.

After the set-up, we can process your monthly reports as soon as they arrive. For timely processing, send us the monthly electronic files as soon as the payroll for the month is complete, but no later than the 10th day of the next month. For example, we must receive all reports for January no later than February 10.

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Contacting Social Security

Our website is a valuable resource for information about all of Social Security’s programs. There are a number of things you can do online.

In addition to using our website, you can call us toll-free at 1-800-772-1213. We can answer specific questions from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. We can provide information by automated phone service 24 hours a day. (You can use our automated response system to tell us a new address or request a replacement Medicare card.) If you are deaf or hard of hearing, you may call our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.

We treat all calls confidentially. We also want to make sure you receive accurate and courteous service. That is why we have a second Social Security representative monitor some telephone calls.

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