Social Security Administration to Send Out “No-Match” SSN Letters to Employers

Starting in 2019, the Social Security Administration will start sending “no-match” letters to employers when information submitted on tax forms doesn’t line up with SSA records, a practice that was halted by the Obama Administration 6 years ago. When a new employee is hired, companies are required to provide a Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, and a Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification for all employees, including citizens and non-citizens. Some governmental agencies and companies that are signed up for it must also complete an E-Verify for its employees. On these forms, personal information and a social security number is required. When an employee’s personal information and their information records with the SSA does not match up, a letter will now be sent to the employer to notify them of this fact. The employer will have 60 days to make corrections if there was a mistake.

In the 6 years since the termination of this program, the Immigration Reform and Law Institute has found that there were 39 million instances of SSN mismatches. The reasoning behind reinstating this program is the belief that these 39 million cases are incidences of identity theft by undocumented immigration. Even though this is unlikely since there are approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country, with only around 7 million in the workforce. The purpose of the letters is to notify the employers of potential undocumented workers and for various branches of the government including the IRS to act upon this discovery. This will most likely result in employers changing their hiring and employment verification practices, and undocumented workers could wind up going further into the shadow economy.