SSN Policy Manual

Policy Manual

The issuance of Executive Order 9397 in 1943, theoretically provided the basis for this change in conception of the role of the social security number. This interpretation was taken from the wording of the order which speaks of the efficiency to be gained from "a single . . . system of accounts .. ." To interpret the order as applying to all kinds of Federal agency record systems was certainly beyond the meaning of its language. In 1946 the Social Security Administration, complying with the provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act of 1946 (Pub. Law 79-404, 60 Stat. 237), required among other things, "uniformity, impartiality and fairness in the procedures employed by federal administrative agencies," issued and published in the Federal Register its regulations on the issuance and use of social security numbers. 20 C.F.R. 8 422.1(ii) published at 1 1F.R. 177A- 568, September 11, 1946provides: (ii) Any person who wishes to file an application for an account number may do so by filing Form SS-5.

In 1961 the Internal Revenue Service began using the social security number for taxpayer identification by an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code (Pub. Law 87-397,75 Stat. 828, Internal Revenue Code of 1954, Sec. 6109), that authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to request that each person making "a return, statement, or other document" under the Internal Revenue Code to "include such identifying number as may be prescribed for securing proper identification of such person."

In a decision dated April 16, 1964, the Commissioner of Social Security approved the issuance of social security numbers to pupils in the ninth grade and above, if a school requests such issuance and indicates willingness to cooperate in the effort. The Social Security Administration Claims Manual explains that this decision was made to accommodate requests from school systems "desiring to use the social security number for both automatic data processing and control purposes, so that the progress of pupils could be traced throughout their school lives, across district, county, and state lines." The school enumeration program, however, is entirely voluntary. In June 1965 the Commissioner of Social Security authorized the issuance of a social security number to every recipient of State old-age assistance benefits who did not already have one, in order to establish a more efficient process for exchange of information between these agencies and the Social Security Administration. The Congress, in Section 137 of the Social Security Amendments of 1972 (Pub. Law 92- 603, 86 Stat. 1329, 42 U.S.C. 9 405(c)(2)(B)(I)(II)), requires the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (the predecessor agency of the Department of Social and Human Services) to take affirmative measures to issue social security numbers "to any individual who is an applicant for or recipient of benefits under any program financed in whole or in part from Federal funds including any child on whose behalf such benefits are