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Delay in Filing Annual Report

Excerpted from "Social Security Handbook". See the up-to-date, official Social Security Handbook at ssa.gov.

1819. Delay in Filing Annual Report

1819.1 Under what conditions does the late filing of your annual report result in a reduction of benefits?

There may be a penalty deduction (see §1820) in your benefits if you fail to file your annual report of earnings in a timely manner, if all of the following factors exist:

  1. You did not make an annual report of earnings within three months and 15 days after the close of the taxable year;

  2. We cannot find good cause for your not reporting on time (see §1832);

  3. A work deduction (part or all of one month's benefit) is required because of your earnings; and

  4. You received and accepted a benefit check for one or more months during that taxable year.

1819.2 If you do not file your annual report on time, what benefit payments are withheld?

If you fail to file your annual report on time, you will not receive:

  1. Any benefit payments withheld due to your failure to file an annual report on time; and

  2. Any monthly benefit payments that must be withheld because of your excess earnings in the year the annual report was due.

Note: See sections §1814 and §1819 above. For reports due on or after April 15, 1997, we accept the information on the W-2 forms and the SE tax return to be the annual report of earnings required by law. We assume that all adjustments to benefits were based on a report filed on time. No penalty is imposed unless you knowingly and intentionally attempted to hide your earnings from us in an effort to avoid the payment of taxes and/or to avoid deductions under the earnings test.

Last Revised: March, 2001


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