Addendum to the Supporting Statement for 0960-0104

Supporting Statement for Form SSA-1560-U4

Petition to Obtain Approval of a Fee for Representing a Claimant Before the Social Security Administration

20 CFR 404.1720 and 404.1725; 20 CFR 416.1520 and 416.1525

OMB No. 0960-0104

Terms of Clearance

The Term of Clearance that was placed on this ICR on 6/13/05 is as follows:

Prior to submitting this information collection for renewal, SSA will implement a print-fillable version of the online form.

In response to this Term, the policy office sent a request to SSA’s Forms Management Team to accommodate this clearance item. There are no Systems resources currently, but as soon as resources become available, this request will be addressed.

Revisions to the Collection Statement and Instructions

On the enclosed copy of the form, the revised portions are in track changes.

• Privacy Act Notice—Additional citations have been added to the Privacy Act Notice language, which is 1631(d) and 1383(d) on the form.

• Reformatted the fonts and changed the dates and the name of the copy at the bottom of page 1.

• Instructions for Using this Petition

• When to File a Fee Petition

  • Delete in the second paragraph “attorney representative or non-attorney representative whom SSA has found eligible to receive direct payment”.

    • Add in its place “the representative who is eligible for direct fee payment, as defined under “Collection of the fee.”

  • Delete in the second paragraph “attorney or non-attorney”.

    • Add in its place “representative who is eligible for direct fee payment”.

• Under Where to File the Petition

  • Change “OHA” to “ODAR”

  • Change “Office of Hearing and Appeals” to “Office of Disability Adjudication and Review”

  • Delete in the second bullet “the hearing” to “him or her”

• Collection of the Fee

  • Delete in the first paragraph “the representative is an attorney or a non-attorney whom SSA has found eligible to receive direct payment, and SSA awards the claimant benefits under Title II or Title XVI of the Social Security Act.

    • Add in its place “SSA awards the claimant benefits under Title II or Title XVI of the Social Security Act and the representative is eligible for direct fee payment. To be eligible for direct payment, the representative must be an attorney or a non-attorney who is participating in SSA’s direct fee payment demonstration project. In addition, if the representative was appointed after December 31, 2006, the representative must register for direct payment before SSA effectuates the favorable determination.

  • Change “attorney or eligible non-attorney” to “representative” in three places after the bold print in the first paragraph.

  • Delete the second paragraph.

    • Add in its place “SSA will not withhold past-due benefits to pa the authorized fee to a non-attorney representative who is not participating in the direct payment project. In addition, SSA will not pay a fee directly to a representative if the representative was discharged by the client; withdrew from representing the client; or was appointed to represent the client after December 31, 2006, and did not register for direct payment before SSA effectuated the determination.

Information on registering for direct fee payment and on becoming eligible to participate in the non-attorney direct fee payment project is on SSA’s “Representing Claimants” website: http:/www.ssa.gov/representation/.”

• What You Should Know

  • If You Have Questions or Disagree Now

    • Changed in the first and third bullet “Office of Hearing and Appeals” to “Office of Disability Adjudication and Review.”

• What Happens Later

• Change in the second paragraph “The law and regulations” to “Our rules”.

• Change in the second paragraph “attorney or eligible non-attorney” to “representative”.

• Change in the third bullet “attorney or eligible non-attorney” to “representative”.

• Delete the last paragraph.

  • Add in its place “SSA will not pay a fee to a non-attorney representative who is not participating in the direct payment project. In addition, SSA will not pay a fee to a representative if you discharge the representative; the representative withdrew from representing you; or you appointed the representative after December 31, 2006, and the representative did not register for direct payment.”

Prior editions of the form will be destroyed upon approval of these revisions.