Employer Report of Special Wage Payments

Justification for Non-Substantive Changes for the SSA-131

Employer Report of Special Wage Payments

20 CFR 404.428-404.429

OMB No. 0960-0565

Justification for Non-Substantive Changes to the Collection

We request the following revisions for this form:

Change 1: We are updating the phone number to the Division of Business Services (DBS) on the cover page.

Justification 1: The population of callers to the existing phone number on the form is mostly employers and the updated phone number is more appropriate since DBS works closely with employers assisting them in making clear and accurate decisions.

Change 2: We are revising question 4 on page 1 part 2 of the form.

• O ld Language: For wages paid to the employee in the “tax year” (see Part 1 above), enter the amount that was for services performed prior to the tax year; or was not attributable to services rendered during the tax year; or was paid on account of retirement:

• New Language: For wages paid to the employee in the “tax year” (see Part 1 above), enter the amount that was for services performed prior to the tax year; or was paid on account of retirement: If none enter “0”

Justification 2: We are removing the language from the sentence because of redundancy, and to be consistent with the second part of 4. We are adding new language to alert the employer to complete the field. If the employer leaves the field blank, the technician is unsure if the amount is zero or if the employer simply overlooked the field. The new language will encourage the employer to enter data in the field, which will reduce follow-up calls.

Change 3: We are adding new language to page 3, number 4 of the instruction page.

• Old language: Enter the wages that were paid to the employee in the tax year that were for services that were performed in years prior to the tax year or that were paid on account of retirement.

• New Language: Enter the wages that were paid to the employee in the tax year that were for services that were performed in years prior to the tax year or that were paid on account of retirement. If none, enter “0”

Justification 3: We are adding new language to instruction 4 to coincide with the revisions for question 4.

We will implement these changes upon OMB approval since the next mailing of this form occurs in July 2013.