Social Security

Telephone Wage Reporting

Background

Over the course of their eligibility, SSI recipients provide wage statements to us to ensure they are still receiving the correct payment amounts. As mentioned in the major causes section of the SSI background page, incorrect or out-of-date reports have led to many improper payments. In an effort to make this process easier for both the recipient and the agency, we created the SSI Automated Telephone Wage Reporting (SSITWR) System.

In the past, recipients needed to mail, fax, or hand-deliver their monthly wage reports to one of our field offices. Through the SSITWR program, those recipients can now call a dedicated agency telephone number to report their monthly wages via a voice-recognition system. Once we have the report, the information automatically updates our SSI claims system.

For FY 2011, we established a goal to achieve a targeted number of monthly reporters¹ participating in the SSITWR: 28,000 by the end of FY 2011. As reflected in the chart above, we exceeded our goal. In FY 2012, our goal was to increase the monthly use of SSITWR by an additional 10 percent above the usage in September 2011.There were over 36,000 successful SSITWR reports in September 2012, which surpassed our FY 2012 goal of 31,486 monthly reports.

Our front-line employees will continue to recruit new monthly reporters and promote the use of this tool for wage reporting. For FY 2013, our goal is to increase the monthly use of SSITWR by an additional 5 percent above the usage in September 2012.

We are seeking new ways to promote SSITWR.  Beginning in December 2012, SSI recipients (or their parent, spouse, or representative payee) can use their Android or iPhone to report their monthly wage amounts.  This application is an extension of the SSITWR automated system that ensures the wage amounts post timely to the individual’s record.  This initiative will serve as a research and development project as we work towards using mobile devices to interact with our customers.