What’s on My Social Security Statement?

The second page includes a table laying out your lifetime earnings that were subject to Social Security and Medicare taxesan accounting of how much you’ve paid in those taxesand bullet points on benefit calculations and eligibility.

Once you’re receiving benefitsthe bar chart showing payment projections disappearsbut the statement still includes information on how your payments are calculated and your personalized table showing your lifetime earnings and a breakdown of taxes paid.

What if there’s a mistake in my earnings report?

If you find a mistake in your income historysuch as missing years or incorrect amountscorrecting it is crucial — an incorrect or incomplete earnings record can reduce benefits for you and your family.

The first step is to try to find proof of the earnings you believe were omitted or incorrectly entered. That could include a W-2 forma tax returnor a wage stub or pay slip. If you don’t have any of thosemake notes with details the SSA can use to try and track down the correct informationsuch as your employer’s namewhere you workedthe dates you worked therehow much you recall earningand the name and Social Security number you used.

Nextalert the SSA about your concern. You can do this online via your My Social Security accountby phone at 800-772-1213or in person at a local Social Security office (call the same number to make an appointment).

There’s a time limit for correcting earnings errors — you typically have three yearsthree months and 15 days from the end of the taxable year when the earnings were paid to make a fix — but there are exceptions to this rule. For exampleyou still can make corrections after the deadline if:

• You discover that earnings on your tax return differ from what’s on your Social Security statement.
• Your employer failed to report wages you received to the IRS or reported them incorrectly.
• Wages reported by your employer were never entered into your statement.
• A clerical errorsuch as transposed numberswas made on the statement.
• The error is due to fraud or identity theft.

Why does Social Security provide statements?

Social Security statements are designed to help people plan for retirement by providing estimates of their expected benefitsand to ensure that their lifetime earnings data is accurate. They were inaugurated in 1995when the SSA began mailing statements to people age 60 and over who were not yet receiving benefitsand expanded four years later to reach workers 25 and older.

Before thatto get an estimate of future benefits or check your earnings recordyou had to call the SSA or visit a field office and fill out a form. Weeks lateryou would receive your information in the mailand only then could you begin addressing any mistakes you found.

By 2011the SSA was sending out 155 million statements a year at an annual cost of $70 million for printing and postageprompting the agency to suspend the mailings to cut costs, according to the Congressional Research Service. The following yearstatements were made available online via the My Social Security portal.

In 2014the SSA resumed some mailingsending paper statements to people at ages 25303540455055 and 60 who were not receiving benefits or using My Social Security. The current policylimiting automatic paper mailings to people 60 and older who meet those criteriawas put in place in 2017but the SSA continues to encourage people to sign up for digital accounts for anytime access to their statements.