Online Certificate of Coverage Service

Are you an American employer with operations outside the U.S.?  Do you send employees from the U.S. on overseas assignments?  If so, you may benefit from the provisions of bilateral Social Security agreements the United States has concluded with many foreign countries.

These agreements, which are sometimes called "Totalization" agreements, eliminate dual Social Security coverage, the situation that occurs when an employee from one country works in another country and is required to pay Social Security taxes--together with the employer--to both countries on the same earnings.  A Totalization agreement assigns coverage to just one country and exempts the employer and employee from Social Security taxes in the other country.

If a Totalization agreement assigns coverage of an employee's work to the United States, a Certificate of U.S. Coverage issued by SSA serves as proof that the employee and employer are exempt from Social Security taxes in the other country.

U.S. employers have traditionally used regular mail and fax to request certificates of coverage for their expatriate employees.  Now, you can also use the Internet to request certificates.

In developing the online Certificate of Coverage service, SSA has taken all reasonable measures, including encryption, to ensure that personal information you send us using the online forms is not disclosed to any third party.  However, the Internet is an open system and we cannot absolutely guarantee that the information you send will not be intercepted by others and decrypted.  Although this possibility is remote, it does exist.

If you are not comfortable with these risks, please see one of our descriptions of individual Totalization agreements to learn how to request a Certificate of Coverage by mail or fax.

• You will receive Certificates of Coverage several weeks faster since the online service eliminates the need for data rekeying.
• The online service automatically checks every form before allowing transmission, preventing incomplete requests.  It also provides automated error checking, which results in fewer rejected applications.
• You may choose to receive confirmation of approved Certificate requests via e-mail when you use our online service.
• Help for completing each item on the forms is always available online.
• SSA forms are subject to periodic revisions.  The online version will always be the latest edition.