Every once in a while I receive from the Social Security Administration a form titled “Your Social Security Statement”, on page 3 of which is a table “Your Earnings Record at a Glance”.
According to their records, I didn’t work in 1995 and 1996, which happens not to be true. I was fully employed during both of those years and earned something in the $25,000 range for each of those two years.
I was a sloppy record-keeper in that era (which has bit me in the butt already with regards to state taxes) so I don’t have the W2 forms or xerox copies of my tax returns available.
I already contacted Social Security and explained that I needed to know how to go about establishing that I’d had wages in '95 and '96 and got a form letter instructing me to submit the forms I don’t have, so I didn’t pursue it further at that time.
More recently, I got in touch with my employer from that time, but the agency he ran was shut down and he says he himself has no idea what happened to the financial records. He thinks they were handed over to the NYC Department for the Aging which was our primary funding source.
How much difference is this going to make? Is this something that’s worth doing battle with the bureaucracy over?
The one thing I do have is a tracking number for “Tele-File” for my Federal Income Tax for those two years. Presumably the IRS has a record that I paid income tax on income and if I had something from them establishing that I could present that to Social Security Admin.
Are you certain that your employer paid into social security for you those two years?
My mother, who was a court reporter, was considered an “Independent Contractor” and her company didn’t pay into social security for her. If she didn’t send the money in herself, she got no credit.
When you are an employee your employer MATCHES what you pay in SS. So, if you didn’t receive credit for those years, your employer pocketed your contribution, and never paid his share.
Actually CCWaterback brings up a good point. I’m wondering now if the IRS would even have that info. (on your return) re contributions since this is an employer paid requirement.
You mentioned it was “an agency” of some kind. It’s possible you were an independent contractor and no contribution was made. Do you have any pay stubs from that time. That’ll tell you in second as your SS deduction will be listed on the check.
I worked for them for 4 years and the other two years (1993 and 1997) show up on my Social Security record. I was a regular full-time employee and I filled out a standard tax form indicating how many exemptions I was claiming, and I did fill out and send in my tax form to the IRS, including listing how much tax had been withheld (yes they withheld taxes) and how much I owed and whether I was entitled to a refund or had to pay extra, etc etc.
Did my employer pull a fast one and somehow not pay my Soc Sec taxes at all for two years? Possibly, if that’s something one could easily do as an employer while still withholding federal income tax. As I said, I was a sloppy record keeper in those days.
As to the question, is it worth contesting … possibly. I think you get ‘Units’ of credit for the time you work, and after you get so many units you can officially ‘retire’. Of course, having worked full time for nearly 15 years, I’m pretty much “done” but if something laid me up and not getting that retirement time/income because of messed up records, I’d be pissed.
Let me clairfy: it could be an error that could be corrected by getting copies of your W2 from the IRS and forwarding them.
However, what ccwaterback said happened to me.
Other things that employer did included insurance iffy things, paycheck games, bill paying games, etc, before they were recently evicted from their offices … and they had a shady origin to begin with (most of this I found out after I left their employ).
I knew guys that worked construction and got screwed on their SS. There may be a temporary employee loophole, I’m not sure. But I am sure the amount you are talking about, probably less than a couple grand, wouldn’t be worth pursuing, as far as the SS administration is concerned. Is there any US government agency more inept and fouled up than the SS administration?
It’s also possible that the W-2’s filed by your employer for 1995 and 1996 had incorrect information on them (such as transposed digits in your SSN) which prevented the IRS from properly crediting the earnings to the records which were transferred to Social Security. A copy of your W-2’s would confirm this in addition to establishing the amount of your earnings. If you worked for this same employer in other years then Social Security could check your records for those years to verify the employer’s EIN, then check the suspense files for those years under that EIN to see if there’s an record that is apparently yours (some form of collaborating evidence is usually helpful here) and if so the earnings can be moved from the suspense file to your record.
This, of course, may necessitate finding a Social Security employee who’s willing to do the work involved. With all modesty, I am one of them; but Privacy Act considerations may not allow me to take any action on your behalf directly.
If you were an independent contractor you would have had to file a Schedule C and paid your own social secuity. so, that doesn’t matter.
If your employer withheld SS, and he did on paper if he gave you W-2’s, then you get credit for it even if he didn’t actually pay it over. How do you think people get refunds when their employers never paid their 941 taxes?
You have to send in copies of your W-2S with your tax return so I would request those. Follow previous given advice on that.
As far as if it’s worth it, there is a program on the SS site (socialsecurity.gov) where you can put in the numbers you have on the statement SS sent you. So, do that first, and make sure the final benefit amount matches the amount of the benefit according to them, just to reassure yourself you are on the same page, then go back and add the wages for the missing years and see how much it increases your benefit. Over the years it could amount to quite a bit as SS beneficiaries get a raise every year.
As far as the guys working construction, if they indeed were independent contractors then they didn’t get “screwed”; only employers have to pay half of the social security tax. If you are independent, you have to pay all of it and it’s not withheld from your pay. so the 15% additional tax in april is sometimes a shock. On the other hand, employers sometimes classify employees as independent so they don’t have to give them benefits, or take withholding, or pay SS. But, they usually get caught by IRS. But, most of the time it’s legitimate and the independent contractors simply didn’t understand why their paychecks were more and they didn’t ask questions. My opinion is that if you are going to be considered independent the one who hires you should explain the tax ramifications beforehand so you can be prepared. But, do they have to? No.
I forgot to mention that if you were classified as an independent contractor, your “employer” would have given you 1099’s instread of a W-2. there may or may not have been withholding on it, but just for income tax, not SS.