E-Alert Item: Employee Records: Government Cuts Back on Number of Social Security “No-Match” Letters to Be Sent This Year

When an employee’s name or Social Security number differs from information in the Social Security Administration’s records, the agency sends out a “no-match” letter to notify the employer of the discrepancy. In a change from past years, the agency plans to send no-match letters only if an employer has more than 10 employees with mismatched data. In the past, you could receive a no-match letter if even one employee had a discrepancy. As a result of the change, the SSA plans to send out only about 130,000 letters this year–down from about 900,000 sent out in 2002.