Payroll News

Social Security Critical Links

Update Your Payroll Records – Ask employees to verify their name and SSN before you close out your books and prepare Forms W-2. If a name has changed, continue to use the old name and tell the employee to contact Social Security to obtain an updated card. Using a new name before the employee updates Social Security’s records may prevent the posting of earnings. Change your payroll records only when the employee obtains an updated Social Security card with the new name.

Avoid These Common Errors – Incorrect name or SSN; misspelled names; using nicknames or shortened names, using titles before or after the name; and name changes not reported to Social Security.

Verify Names/SSNs with Social Security – Use Social Security’s free Internet service to match employees’ names and SSNs with Social Security’s records at the time of hire or before you prepare and submit Forms W-2. Use PayMaster’s built in SSNVS file creator and check new hires periodically.

Use the Correct Name Format
Enter the name on Form W-2 as shown on the employee’s Social Security card. Compound names no longer require a hyphen. Connect parts of a compound name with either a hyphen or a blank space. Do not join them into a single word. If an employee has a compound name, include all of the parts in the appropriate name field. For example, the name John R Smith-Jones: Enter Smith Jones in the last name field.

It’s especially important to know the exact last name. If an employee provides a name with apparent compound or multiple last names, carefully question them to determine which name is the beginning of the surname and which (if any) is the middle name.

Use the Correct SSN
Enter the SSN shown on the employee’s Social Security card. No SSN can begin with an 8 or a 9. The SSN cannot be all 1s or all 3s and cannot be in the sequential order of 123-45-6789. If you hire someone who does not have a Social Security card, you can use the free Social Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS) which allows you to quickly verify whether a person’s name and SSN matches Social Security’s records, or you can ask him/her to obtain.

Filed under: Federal News, PayMaster Software, Payroll News