The Social Security Administration (SSA) resumed sending “no-match” letters to employers this month, three years after discontinuing the practice in response to litigation.

The SSA posted a notice on its Program Operations Manual System website saying letters are to go to employers for data received for tax year 2010. The SSA won’t send letters it held for tax years 2007 and 2006 because of litigation surrounding a proposed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulation, “Safe Harbor Procedures for Employers Who Receive a No-Match Letter,” which was later rescinded.

Employers are required to report wages annually for each employee on Form W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement). During the annual wage reporting process, a wage report may fail validation because it doesn’t have a social security number (SSN) or name or the SSN or name submitted doesn’t match SSA records.

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Immigration reform legislation continues to heat up on both the state and federal fronts. In the midst of protests surrounding a new Arizona law that critics see as a license for racial profiling, a group of Democratic senators unveiled a new federal bill on April 29 that would require employers to use biometric social security cards to verify the status of new hires and hike monetary penalties for illegal hires by 300 percent.

Biometric Card

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