Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request and Comment Request

The Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes a list of information collection packages requiring clearance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with Public Law (Pub. L.) 104-13, the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, effective October 1, 1995. This notice includes revisions and an extension of OMB-approved information collections.

SSA is soliciting comments on the accuracy of the agency's burden estimate; the need for the information; its practical utility; ways to enhance its quality, utility, and clarity; and ways to minimize burden on respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Mail, email, or fax your comments and recommendations on the information collection(s) to the OMB Desk Officer and SSA Reports Clearance Officer at the following addresses or fax numbers.

(OMB) Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for SSA, Fax: 202-395-6974, Email address: OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov.

(SSA) Social Security Administration, OLCA, Attn: Reports Clearance Director, 3100 West High Rise, 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21235, Fax: 410-966-2830, Email address: OR.Reports.Clearance@ssa.gov.

I.

The information collections below are pending at SSA. SSA will submit them to OMB within 60 days from the date of this notice. To be sure we consider your comments, we must receive them no later than May 27, 2014. Individuals can obtain copies of the collection instruments by writing to the above email address.

1. Representative Payee Report-Adult, Representative Payee Report-Child, Representative Payee Report-Organizational Representative Payees—20 CFR 404.635, 404.2035, 404.2065, and 416.665—0960-0068. When SSA determines it is not in an Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipient's best interest to receive Social Security payments directly, the agency will designate a representative payee for the recipient. The representative payee can be: (1) A family member; (2) a non-family member who is a private citizen and is acquainted with the beneficiary; (3) an organization; (4) a state or local government agency; or (5) a business. In the capacity of representative payee, the person or organization receives the SSA recipient's payments directly and manages these payments. As part of its stewardship mandate, SSA must ensure the representative payees are properly using the payments they receive for the recipients they represent. The agency annually collects the information necessary to make this assessment using the SSA-623, Representative Payee Report-Adult, SSA-6230, Representative Payee Report-Child, SSA-6234, Representative Payee Report-Organizational Representative Payees, and through the electronic Internet application Internet Representative Payee Accounting (iRPA). The respondents are representative payees of OASDI and SSI recipients.

Type of Request: Revision to an OMB-approved information collection.

2. Statement of Income and Resources—20 CFR 416.207, 146.301-416.310, 416.704, and 416.708—0960-0124. SSA collects information about income and resources on the SSA-8010-BK for SSI claims and redeterminations. SSA uses the information to make initial or continuing eligibility determinations for SSI claimants or recipients who are subject to deeming. The respondents are persons whose income and resources SSA may deem (consider to be available) to SSI applicants or recipients.

Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information collection.

3. Authorization to Obtain Earnings Data From the Social Security Administration—0960-0602. On occasion, organizations and agencies, both public and private, need to obtain detailed earnings information about specific Social Security number (SSN) holding wage earners for business purposes (e.g. pension funds, State agencies, etc.). Respondents use Form SSA-581 to identify the SSN holder whose information they are requesting, and provide authorization from the SSN holder, when applicable. SSA uses the information provided on Form SSA-581 to: (1) Identify the wage earner; (2) establish the period of earnings information requested; (3) verify the wage earner authorized SSA to release this information to the requesting party; and (4) produce the Itemized Statement of Earnings (SSA-1826). The respondents are private businesses, state or local agencies, and other federal agencies.

Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information collection.

4. State Death Match Collections— 20 CFR 404.301, 404.310-404.311, 404.316, 404.330-404-341, 404.350-404.352, 404.371; 416.912-0960-0700. SSA uses the State Death Match Collections to ensure the accuracy of payment files by detecting unreported or inaccurate deaths of beneficiaries. Under the Social Security Act (Act), entitlement to retirement, disability, wife's, husband's, or parent's benefits terminate when the beneficiary dies. The states furnish death certificate information to SSA via the manual registration process or the Electronic Death Registration Process (EDR). Both death match processes are automated electronic transfers between the states and SSA. The respondents are the states' bureaus of vital statistics.

Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information collection.

5. Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery—0960-0788. SSA, as part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public to take this opportunity to comment on the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery ” for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et. seq.). This collection was developed as part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process for seeking feedback from the public on service delivery.

Under the auspices of Executive Order 12862, Setting Customer Service Standards, SSA conducts multiple satisfaction surveys each year. This proposed information collection activity provides a means to garner qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner, in accordance with SSA's commitment to improving service delivery. By qualitative feedback we mean information that provides useful insights on perceptions and opinions, but are not statistical surveys that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the population of study. This feedback will provide insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences and expectations, provide an early warning of issues with service, or focus attention on areas where communication, training or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or services. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative, and actionable communications between SSA and our customers and stakeholders.

The solicitation of feedback will target areas such as: Timeliness, appropriateness, accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of service delivery, and resolution of issues with service delivery. Responses will be assessed to plan and inform efforts to improve or maintain the quality of service offered to the public. If this information is not collected, vital feedback from customers and stakeholders on SSA's services will be unavailable.

We will only submit a collection for approval under this generic clearance if it meets the following conditions: (1) The collections are voluntary; (2) the collections are low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government; (3) the collections are non-controversial and do not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies; (4) any collection targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the near future; (5) personally identifiable information (PII) is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained; (6) information gathered will be used only internally for general service improvement and program management purposes and is not intended for release outside of the agency; (7) information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions; and (8) information gathered will yield qualitative information; the collections will not be designed or expected to yield statistically reliable results or used as though the results are generalizable to the population of study.

Feedback collected under this generic clearance provides useful information, but it does not yield data that can be generalized to the overall population. This type of generic clearance for qualitative information will not be used for quantitative information collections that are designed to yield reliably actionable results, such as monitoring trends over time or documenting program performance. Such data uses require more rigorous designs that address the target population to which generalizations will be made, the sampling frame, the sample design (including stratification and clustering), the precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods for assessing potential non-response bias, the protocols for data collection, and any testing procedures that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding the study. Depending on the degree of influence the results are likely to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield quantitative results.

As a general matter, information collections will not result in any new system of records containing privacy information and will not ask questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

The respondents are recipients of SSA services (including most members of the public), professionals, and individuals who work on behalf of SSA beneficiaries.

Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information collection.

Affected Public: Individuals and households, businesses and organizations, State, Local or Tribal government.

Total Estimated Number of Respondents: 45,530.

Below we provide projected average estimates for the next three years:

Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: 125.

Annual Respondents: 15,177.

Annual Responses: 15,177.

Frequency of Response: Once per request.

Average Minutes per Response: 41.53 minutes.

Estimated Annual Burden: 10,505 hours.

II. SSA submitted the information collections below to OMB for clearance. Your comments regarding the information collections would be most useful if OMB and SSA receive them 30 days from the date of this publication. To be sure we consider your comments, we must receive them no later than April 28, 2014. Individuals can obtain copies of the OMB clearance packages by writing to OR.Reports.Clearance@ssa.gov.

1. Student Reporting Form—20 CFR 404.352(b)(2); 404.367; 404.368; 404.415; 404.434; 422.135—0960-0088. To qualify for Social Security Title II student benefits, student beneficiaries must be in full-time attendance status at an educational institution. In addition, SSA requires these beneficiaries to report events that may cause a reduction, termination, or suspension of their benefits. SSA collects such information on Forms SSA-1383 and SSA-1383-FC to determine if the changes or events the student beneficiaries report will affect their continuing entitlement to SSA benefits. SSA also uses the SSA-1383 and SSA-1383-FC to calculate the correct benefit amounts for student beneficiaries. The respondents are Social Security Title II student beneficiaries.

Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information collection.

2. Reporting Events—SSI—20 CFR 416.701-416.732—0960-0128. SSA mails the SSA-8150 to SSI recipients when they allege payment or eligibility-changing events. Either the SSI recipients fill out the paper version of the form, or they complete the form through an in-person or telephone interview with an SSA employee who records the information using the Modernized SSI Claims System. In addition to the SSA-8150, recipients may need to submit supplementary documentation showing the payment or eligibility-changing events (e.g., payment stubs, or rental agreements). SSA uses Form SSA-8150 and the supplementary documentation to determine changes in SSI eligibility and amounts. The respondents are current SSI recipients, or their representatives, who experience a payment or eligibility-changing event.

Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information collection.

3. Government Pension Questionnaire—20 CFR 404.408a—0960-0160. The basic Social Security benefits application (OMB No. 0960-0618) contains a lead question asking if the applicants are qualified (or will qualify) to receive a government pension. If the respondent is qualified, or will qualify, to receive a government pension, the applicant completes Form SSA-3885 either on paper or through a personal interview with an SSA claims representative. If the applicants are not entitled to receive a government pension at the time they apply for Social Security benefits, SSA requires them to provide the government pension information as beneficiaries when they become eligible to receive their pensions. Regardless of the timing, at some point the applicants or beneficiaries must complete and sign Form SSA-3885 to report information about their government pensions before the pensions begin. SSA uses the information to: (1) Determine whether the Government Pension Offset provision applies; (2) identify exceptions as stated in 20 CFR 404.408a; and (3) determine the benefit reduction amount and effective date. If the applicants and beneficiaries do not respond using this questionnaire, SSA offsets their entire benefit amount. The respondents are applicants or recipients of spousal benefits who are eligible for or already receiving a Government pension.

Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information collection.

4. Modified Benefit Formula Questionnaire—0960-0395. SSA collects information on Form SSA-150 to determine which formula to use in computing the Social Security benefit for someone who receives a pension from employment not covered by Social Security. The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) requires use of a benefit formula replacing a smaller percentage of a worker's pre-retirement earnings. However, the resulting amount cannot show a difference in the benefit computed using the modified and regular formulas greater than one-half the amount of the pension received in the first month an individual is entitled to both the pension and the Social Security benefit. The SSA-150 collects the information needed to make all the necessary benefit computations. SSA requires the respondents to furnish the information on Form SSA-150 so we can calculate their benefits using the data they supply. SSA calculates the benefits of applicants who do not respond to this questionnaire using the full WEP reduction. SSA employees collect this information once from the applicants at the time they file their claim. The respondents are applicants for old age and disability benefits.

Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information collection.

5. Employee Identification Statement—20 CFR 404.702—0960-0473. When two or more individuals report earnings under the same SSN, SSA collects information on Form SSA-4156 to credit the earnings to the correct individual and SSN. We send the SSA-4156 to the employer to: (1) Identify the employees involved; (2) resolve the discrepancy, and (3) credit the earnings to the correct SSN. The respondents are employers involved in erroneous wage reporting for an employee.

Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information collection.