Non-Substantice Change Request 0686

Justification for Non-Substantive Changes for Form SSA-1199-(Country)

International Direct Deposit

31 CFR 210

OMB No. 0960-0686

Justification for Non-Substantive Changes to the Collection

Based on new requirements from the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Benefit Unit (located in the Dominican Republic), SSA is revising the SSA-1199 (Country) for the following countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahama Islands, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & Grenadines. We are making the following revisions to the form for these countries:

• Change #1: We are adding a note to Section 1 that specifies “No P.O. Box address allowed.”

Justification #1: We are making this change as per instructions from the Department of the Treasury, stating that these countries require a transition from the legacy payment channel to the one currently used. The banks in Canada who provided these services have all stopped business, as they are no longer willing to take the risk. Citibank was given a very short runway for this transition and they do not have any other options than to convert these payments to Wire transmissions. The conversion to wire does not allow P.O. Box addresses when inputting bank data into ITS.gov. Therefore, we need to remove the allowance for P.O. Box address for these countries.

• Change #2: We are adding the option to have the beneficiary or representative payee email address in Section 1.

Justification #2: We are making this change as per instructions from the Federal Benefit Unit located in Dominican Republic, which services most of the countries in the Caribbean, because postage service mail is very unreliable in the Caribbean. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some countries to close their borders, and, clients are reporting receiving mail 2-3 months after postage date. Requesting the beneficiary or their representative payee to provide an email address will speed up the process of enrollment when submitting the SSA-1199 form.

• Change #3: We are adding the Federal Benefit Unit (FBU) email address to Section 1 and Section 3.

Justification #3: We are making this change as per instructions from the Federal Benefit Unit located in Dominican Republic, which services most of the countries in the Caribbean, because postage service mail is very unreliable in the Caribbean. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some countries to close their borders, and, clients are reporting receiving mail 2-3 months after postage date. Requesting the beneficiary or their representative payee to provide an email address will speed up the process of enrollment when submitting the SSA-1199 form.

These actions do not affect the public reporting burden. SSA will implement the changes upon OMB’s approval.