In the United States, a Social Security number is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens,
permanent residents, and temporary residents under section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security
Act, codified as 42 U.S.C. § 405(c)(2). The number is issued to an individual by the
Social Security Administration, an independent agency of the United States government. Although
its primary purpose is to track individuals for Social Security purposes, the Social Security
number has become a de facto national identification number for taxation and other purposes.
A Social Security number may be obtained by applying on Form SS-5, "Application for A
Social Security Number Card".
History Social Security numbers were first issued
by the Social Security Administration in November 1935 as part of the New Deal Social Security
program. Within three months, 25 million numbers were issued.
On November 24, 1936, 1,074 of the nation's 45,000 post offices were designated "typing
centers" to type up Social Security cards that were then sent to Washington, D.C. On
December 1, 1936, as part of the publicity campaign for the new program, Joseph L. Fay
of the Social Security Administration selected a record from the top of the first stack of
1,000 records and announced that the first Social Security number in history was assigned
to John David Sweeney, Jr., of New Rochelle, New York.
Before 1986, people often did not obtain a Social Security number until the age of about
14, since the numbers were used for income tracking purposes, and those under that age
seldom had substantial income. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 required parents to list Social
Security numbers for each dependent over the age of 5 for whom the parent wanted to claim
a tax deduction. Before this act, parents claiming tax deductions were on the honor
system not to lie about the number of children they supported. During the first year, this
anti-fraud change resulted in seven million fewer minor dependents being claimed. The
disappearance of these dependents is believed to have involved either children who never
existed or tax deductions improperly claimed by non-custodial parents. The 5th requirement
for citizenshipnationality, which is proved by providing the dependent's SSN, was added
during the 1986 tax reform. By 1990, the threshold was lowered to 1 year old, and is now required
regardless of the child's age. Since then, parents have often applied for Social Security
numbers for their children soon after birth; today, it can be done on the application for
a birth certificate. Purpose and use
The original purpose of this number was to track individuals' accounts within the Social
Security program. It has since come to be used as an identifier for individuals within
the United States, although rare errors occur where duplicates do exist. As numbers are
now assigned by the central issuing office of the SSA, it is unlikely that duplication
will ever occur again. A few duplications did occur when prenumbered cards were sent
out to regional SSA offices and Post Offices. Employee, patient, student, and credit records
are sometimes indexed by Social Security number. The U.S. Armed Forces has used the Social
Security number as an identification number for the Army and Air Force since July 1, 1969,
the Navy and Marine Corps since January 1, 1972, and the Coast Guard since October 1,
1974. Previously, the United States military used a much more complicated system of service
numbers. Non-universal status
Social Security was originally a universal tax, but when Medicare was passed in 1965,
objecting religious groups in existence prior to 1951 were allowed to opt out of the system.
Because of this, not every American is part of the Social Security program, and not everyone
has a number. However, a social security number is required for parents to claim their children
as dependents for federal income tax purposes, and the Internal Revenue Service requires
all corporations to obtain SSNs from their employees, as described below. The Old Order
Amish have fought to prevent universal Social Security by overturning rules such as a requirement
to provide a Social Security number for a hunting license.
Social Security cards printed from January 1946 until January 1972 expressly stated that
people should not use the number and card for identification. Since nearly everyone
in the United States now has a SSN, it became convenient to use it anyway and the message
was removed. The SSN card is still not suitable for primary identification as it has no photograph,
no physical description and no birth date. All it does is confirm that a particular number
has been issued to a particular name. Since then, Social Security numbers have become
de facto national identification numbers. Although some people do not have an SSN assigned
to them, it is becoming increasingly difficult to engage in legitimate financial activities
such as applying for a loan or a bank account without one. While the government cannot require
an individual to disclose his SSN without a legal basis, companies may refuse to provide
service to an individual who does not provide a SSN.
Use required for federal tax purposes Internal Revenue Code section 6109(d) provides:
“The social security account number issued to an individual for purposes of section 205(c)(2)(A)
of the Social Security Act [codified as 42 U.S.C. § 405(c)(2)(A)] shall, except as
shall otherwise be specified under regulations of the Secretary [of the Treasury or his delegate],
be used as the identifying number for such individual for purposes of this title [the
Internal Revenue Code, title 26 of the United States Code].”
The Internal Revenue Code also provides, when required by regulations prescribed by the
Secretary [of the Treasury or his delegate]: Inclusion in returns: Any person required
under the authority of this title to make a return, statement, or other document shall
include in such return, statement, or other document such identifying number as may be
prescribed for securing proper identification of such person.
Furnishing number to other persons: Any person with respect to whom a return, statement,
or other document is required under the authority of this title to be made by another person
or whose identifying number is required to be shown on a return of another person shall
furnish to such other person such identifying number as may be prescribed for securing his
proper identification. According to U.S. Treasury regulations, any
person who, after October 31, 1962, works as an employee for wages subject to Social
Security taxes, Medicare taxes, or U.S. federal income tax withholdings is required to apply
for "an account number" using "Form SS-5." A taxpayer who is not eligible to have a Social
Security number must obtain an alternative Taxpayer Identification Number.
Types of Social Security cards Three different types of Social Security cards
are issued. The most common type contains the cardholder's name and number. Such cards
are issued to U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents. There are also two restricted types
of Social Security cards: One reads "not valid for employment." Such
cards cannot be used as proof of work authorization, and are not acceptable as a List C document
on the I-9 form. The other reads "valid for work only with
DHS authorization." These cards are issued to people who have temporary work authorization
in the U.S. They can satisfy the I-9 requirement, if they are accompanied by a work authorization
card. In 2004 Congress passed The Intelligence Reform
and Terrorism Prevention Act; parts of which mandated that the Social Security Administration
redesign the Social Security Number Card to prevent forgery. From April 2006 through August,
2007, Social Security Administration and Government Printing Office employees were assigned to
redesign the Social Security Number Card to the specifications of the Interagency Task
Force created by the Commissioner of Social Security in consultation with the Secretary
of Homeland Security. The new SSN card design utilizes both covert
and overt security features created by the SSA and GPO design teams.
Identity theft Many citizens and privacy advocates are concerned
about the disclosure and processing of Social Security numbers. Furthermore, researchers
at Carnegie Mellon University have demonstrated an algorithm that uses publicly available
personal information to reconstruct a given SSN.
The SSN is frequently used by those involved in identity theft, since it is interconnected
with so many other forms of identification, and because people asking for it treat it
as an authenticator. Financial institutions generally require a SSN to set up bank accounts,
credit cards, and loans—partly because they assume that no one except the person it was
issued to knows it. Exacerbating the problem of using the social
security number as an identifier is the fact that the social security card contains no
biometric identifiers of any sort, making it essentially impossible to tell whether
a person using a certain SSN truly belongs to someone without relying on other documentation.
Congress has proposed federal laws that restricts the use of SSNs for identification and bans
their use for a number of commercial purposes—e.g., rental applications.
The Internal Revenue Service offers alternatives to SSNs in some places where providing untrusted
parties with identification numbers is essential. Tax return preparers must obtain and use a
Preparer Tax Identification Number to include on their client's tax returns. Day care services
have tax benefits, and even a sole proprietor should give parents an EIN to use on their
tax return. The Social Security Administration has suggested
that, if asked to provide his or her Social Security number, a citizen should ask which
law requires its use. In accordance with §7213 of the 9/11 Commission Implementation Act
of 2004 and 20 C.F.R. 422.103(e)(2), the number of replacement Social Security cards per person
is generally limited to three per calendar year and ten in a lifetime.
Identity confusion has also occurred due to the use of local Social Security Numbers by
the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of
Palau, whose numbers overlap with those of residents of New Hampshire and Maine.
Structure The Social Security number is a nine-digit
number in the format "AAA-GG-SSSS". The number is divided into three parts.
The Area Number, the first three digits, is assigned by geographical region. Prior to
1973, cards were issued in local Social Security offices around the country and the Area Number
represented the office code where the card was issued. This did not necessarily have
to be in the area where the applicant lived, since a person could apply for their card
in any Social Security office. Since 1973, when SSA began assigning SSNs and issuing
cards centrally from Baltimore, the area number assigned has been based on the ZIP code in
the mailing address provided on the application for the original Social Security card. The
applicant's mailing address does not have to be the same as their place of residence.
Thus, the Area Number does not necessarily represent the State of residence of the applicant
regardless of whether the card was issued prior to, or after, 1973.
Generally, numbers were assigned beginning in the northeast and moving south and westward,
so that people on the East Coast had the lowest numbers and those on the West Coast had the
highest numbers. As the areas assigned to a locality are exhausted, new areas from the
pool are assigned, so some states have noncontiguous groups of numbers.
The middle two digits are the Group Number. The Group Numbers range from 01 to 99. However,
they are not assigned in consecutive order. For administrative reasons, group numbers
are issued in the following order: ODD numbers from 01 through 09.
EVEN numbers from 10 through 98. EVEN numbers from 02 through 08.
ODD numbers from 11 through 99. As an example, Group Number 98 is issued before
11. The last four digits are Serial Numbers. They
represent a straight numerical sequence of digits from 0001 to 9999 within the group.
On June 25, 2011, the SSA changed the SSN assignment process to "SSN randomization".
SSN randomization affects the SSN assignment process in the following ways:
It eliminates the geographical significance of the first three digits of the SSN, previously
referred to as the Area Number, by no longer allocating the Area Numbers for assignment
to individuals in specific states. It eliminates the significance of the highest
Group Number and, as a result, the High Group List is frozen in time and can be used for
validation of SSNs issued prior to the randomization implementation date.
Previously unassigned Area Numbers have been introduced for assignment excluding Area Numbers
000, 666 and 900–999.
Note: Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers are issued by the Internal Revenue Service,
so they are not affected by this SSA change.
Exhaustion and re-use The Social Security Administration does not
reuse social security numbers. It has issued over 450 million since the start of the program,
and at a use rate of about 5.5 million per year it says it has enough to last several
generations without reuse or changing the number of digits.
Valid SSNs Prior to June 25, 2011, a valid SSN could
not have an area number between 734 and 749, or above 772, the highest area number the
Social Security Administration has allocated. Effective June 25, 2011, the SSA assigns SSNs
randomly and allows for the assignment of area numbers between 734 and 749 and above
772 through the 800s. This should not be confused with Tax Identification Numbers, which include
additional area numbers. Some special numbers are never allocated:
Numbers with all zeros in any digit group. Numbers with 666 or 900-999 in the first digit
group. Until 2011, the SSA published the last group
number used for each area number. Since group numbers were allocated in a regular pattern,
it was possible to identify an unissued SSN that contained an invalid group number. Now
numbers are assigned randomly, and fraudulent SSNs are not easily detectable with publicly
available information. Many online services, however, provide SSN validation.
Unlike many similar numbers, no check digit is included.
SSNs invalidated by use in advertising
SSNs used in advertising have rendered those numbers invalid. One famous instance of this
occurred in 1938 when the E. H. Ferree Company in Lockport, New York, decided to promote
its product by showing how a Social Security card would fit into its wallets. A sample
card, used for display purposes, was placed in each wallet, which was sold by Woolworth
and other department stores across the country. The wallet manufacturer's vice president and
treasurer Douglas Patterson thought it would be clever to use the actual SSN of his secretary,
Hilda Schrader Whitcher. Even though the card was printed in red and
had "Specimen" printed across the front, many people used the SSN. The Social Security Administration's
account of the incident also claims that the fake card was half the size of a real card,
despite a miniature card's being useless for its purpose and despite Whitcher's holding
two cards of apparently identical size in the accompanying photograph. Over time, the
number that appeared has been claimed by a total of over 40,000 people as their own.
The SSA initiated an advertising campaign stating that it was incorrect to use the number.
However, the number was found to be in use by 12 individuals as late as 1977.
More recently, Todd Davis distributed his SSN in advertisements for his company's LifeLock
identity theft protection service. See also
Death Master File Tax File Number
Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas Uniform civil number
Social Insurance Number INSEE code
Kennitala Permanent account number
Personally identifiable information PPS number
Italian fiscal code card Unique Population Registry Code
NHI Number National Registration Identity Card
NIE Number National Insurance number
References
External links Social Security Administration
Social Security Death Index Database listing over 85 million SSNs, all of which entered
the public domain upon the death of their owners
The Woolworth Card: The SSN 078-05-1120 has been claimed by thousands of people since
the late 1930s Social Security Cards Issued by Woolworth:
"The story of the most misused number of all time"
Complete list of area number groups from the Social Security Administration
Social Security Administration's FAQ for Social Security Numbers
Hearing on Removing Social Security Numbers from Medicare Cards: Joint Hearing before
the Subcommittee on Social Security and Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Ways and Means,
U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session, August 1,
2012