Collection and Use of Personal Information
Sections 202, 205, 223(a) and 226 of the Social Security Act, as amended, allow us to collect this information. Furnishing us this information is voluntary. However, failing to provide all or part of the information may prevent an accurate and timely decision on the claim for benefits.
We will use the information you provide to establish or determine benefits eligibility. We may also share the information for the following purposes, called routine uses:
-
To contractors and other Federal agencies, as necessary, for the purpose of assisting SSA in the efficient administration of our programs; and
-
To student volunteers, individuals working under a personal services contract, and other workers who technically do not have the status of Federal employees, when they are performing work for SSA, as authorized by law, and they need access to personally identifiable information in SSA records in order to perform their assigned agency functions.
In addition, we may share this information in accordance with the Privacy Act and other Federal laws. For example, where authorized, we may use and disclose this information in computer matching programs, in which our records are compared with other records to establish or verify a person’s eligibility for Federal benefit programs and for repayment of incorrect or delinquent debts under these programs.
A list of additional routine uses is available in our Privacy Act System of Records Notices (SORNs) 60-0059, entitled Earnings Recording and Self-Employment Income System, as published in the Federal Register (FR) on January 11, 2006, at 71 FR 1819 and 60-0089, entitled Claims Folders System, as published in the FR on October 31, 2019, at 84 FR 58422. Additional information, and a full listing of all our SORNs, is available on our website at www.ssa.gov/privacy.