SSA's CBSV Service

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) CBSV service goes live for participating companies on November 10, 2008. CBSV will verify whether a name and Social Security Number (SSN) match the data in SSA’s records. The information provided is matched against SSA’s Master File of Social Security Numbers (SSNs), using Social Security number, name, date of birth and sex code if available. It also provides a death indicator if appropriate. The results obtained from CBSV do not confirm or authenticate "proof of identity".

SSA created CBSV to respond to requests from the business community and government agencies for instantaneous, automated verification of high volumes of SSNs. SSA will verify information only with the consent of the SSN number holder and has built in safeguards to CBSV that protect number holder’s information.

The service is available to businesses or government entities that sign an agreement with SSA, pay certain fees and obtain a valid, signed consent from the SSN number holder. Presently, the fees for CBSV are an initial non-refundable enrollment fee of $5,000 and then a transaction fee per verification of $0.56. CBSV will be available in real time via either Web Service or Internet Online. It will also provide responses overnight via a Batch mode option.

The enrollment season for CBSV is presently closed, but we plan to conduct future open seasons.

Watch this site for news on open enrollment and other CBSV updates: www.socialsecurity.gov/cbsv

Questions or expressions of interest in CBSV may be emailed to ssa.cbsv@ssa.gov

Technical IT questions should be emailed to: web.service.testing@ssa.gov

CBSV Documents

• CBSV User Guide- 10/4/08 Edition
• Interface Specification for Consent Based SSN Verification (CBSV) Service - 10/2/08 Edition
• CBSV Services XSD ( XML Schema Definition) - 10/03/08 Edition
• CBSV WSDL - 10/3/08 Edition
• Model User Agreement - 9/11/08 Edition
• Model User Agreement Amendment 1 - 09/11/08 Edition

Special Note: CBSV, a consent and fee-based, third party verification service, should not be confused with the Social Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS) which SSA provides free of charge to employers and their agents for wage and tax reporting for hired employees. Additional information about SSNVS is available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/ssnv.htm

The results obtained from CBSV do not confirm or authenticate "proof of identity". In addition, CBSV does not verify employment eligibility, nor does it interface with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) verification system, and it will not satisfy DHS's I-9 requirements.