Addendum to the Supporting Statement for 0960-0618

Addendum to the Supporting Statement for Social Security Benefits Application

Form SSA-1 Application for Retirement Insurance Benefits

Form SSA-2 Application for Wife’s or Husband’s Insurance Benefits

Form SSA-16 Application for Disability Insurance Benefits

20 CFR 404.310-404.311, 404.315-404.322, 404.330-404.333,

404.601-404.603, and 404.1501-404.1512

OMB No. 0960-0618

Revision to the Collection Instruments (ICs)

This addendum summarizes the changes to the three modalities (paper form, interview (in person and phone) and internet filing.

• Change #1: We are reassigning the three application forms (SSA-1, SSA-2, and SSA-16) back to their original OMB clearance number, 0960-0618.

Justification #1: These ICs were temporarily combined with the new OMB clearance number 0960-0842 for the SSI Simplification project. We are restoring them to their original OMB clearance number, 0960-0618 for administrative purposes as the benefits are administered under two different programs and different laws.

Revisions to iClaim Screens

• Change #1: We are updating the “Apply for Benefits” screen, to replace the term “gender” with “sex”.

Justification #1: We are making this change to align with Executive Order 14168, Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. We expect to remove this data field no later than the end of FY25 to reflect the prior OMB approval when it was removed from the forms as is not needed for eligibility purposes.

• Change #2: We are updating the “Other Pensions/Annuities” screen to remove the question: “Did you ever work in a job where U.S. Social Security taxes were not deducted or withheld?

Justification #2: We are removing the question as is no longer needed based on the implementation of Pub.L. 118-273, the Social Security Fairness Act (SSFA), which repeals the offset of payment for pensions effective Jan 2024.

• Change #3: We are combining the domestic and foreign users for iClaim under one line item each in the burden chart and on ROCIS (one for First Party users and one for Third Party users).

Justification #3: Previously, we required an extra step for system checks on users which a foreign residence. As we no longer need those checks, the burden is now the same for both domestic and foreign users. Therefore, we can combine them into one line item each on the burden chart and in ROCIS.

Revisions to Paper Form SSA-1

• Change #1: We are removing question #12(a) “Are you entitled to, or do you expect to be entitled to, a pension or annuity (or a lump sum in place of a pension or annuity) based on your work after 1956 not covered by Social Security?”; question #12(b), “I became entitled, or expect to become entitled, beginning”; and question #12(c), “I became eligible, or expect to become eligible, beginning.”

• Justification #1: We are removing the questions as they are no longer needed based on the implementation of Pub.L. 118-273, the Social Security Fairness Act (SSFA) which repeals the offset of payment for pensions effective Jan 2024.

Revisions to Paper Form SSA-2

• Change #1: We are removing question #11(a) “Are you entitled to, or do you expect to be entitled to a pension or annuity (or a lump sum in place of a pension or annuity) based on your own employment and earnings from the Federal government of the United States, or one of its States or local subdivisions? (Social Security benefits are not government pensions.)”; question #11(b), “Check one box and provide the date in (c)”; and question #11(c), “Month and Year (If the date is not known, enter “Unknown”.)”

• Justification #1: We are removing the questions as they are no longer needed based on the implementation of the Pub.L. 118-273, Social Security Fairness Act (SSFA) which repeals the offset of payment for pensions effective Jan 2024.

Revisions to Paper Form SSA-16

• Change #1: We are removing question #11(a) “Are you entitled to, or do you expect to be entitled to, a pension or annuity (or a lump sum in place of a pension or annuity) based on your work after 1956 not covered by Social Security?”; question #11(b), “I became entitled, or expect to become entitled, beginning”; and question #11(c), “I became eligible, or expect to become eligible, beginning.”

• Justification #1: We are removing the questions as they are no longer needed based on the implementation of Pub.L. 118-273, the Social Security Fairness Act (SSFA) which repeals the offset of payment for pensions effective Jan 2024.

SSA will implement the changes to this information collection (IC) upon OMB approval. Although these updates minorly reduce the burden to the public, it is not significant enough to modify the prior reported public burden data shown in the attached Supporting Statement.