SSN Policy Manual

Policy Manual

Social Security regulations require each applicant to provide convincing evidence:

20 CFR 422.107 Evidence requirements. (a) General. An applicant for an original social security number card must submit

documentary evidence which the Commissioner of Social Security regards as convincing evidence of age, US. citizenship or alien status, and true identity. An applicant for a duplicate or corrected social security number card must submit .. . The Social Security Administration will not issue a social security card if you fail this requirement. The Rescinding a Social Security Number Scam There is a growing number of Americans who, for various reasons no longer trust the social security system. This growing concern has created a new market among a small group of charlatans who sell various programs telling their customer's how they can rescind or void their social security number. Many of these groups present very convincing arguments. Regardless of what they claim - save your money. There is no program or method for rescinding a social security number once it has been issued. The Social Security Administration is not authorized to rescind an application or void a social security number. Getting out of the System For most people, getting out of the system is the only viable alternative. If you have no government liens filed against you, this process takes about ten years to complete. If you have government liens, it may take as long as twenty years to complete. Either way, it is a long time, but your part in it is easy, or actually hard, because it simply requires you to do nothing during that time. It takes that long for the Internal Revenue Service and the various credit reporting agencies to simply drop you from their active systems. Twenty years if tax liens are involved because it may take that long for the county agencies who record the lien to consider them stale (sometimes moving to another county or state will help you lose these liens). Doing nothing in this case means that you cannot use a social security number for anyhng for ten years and that you cannot file for any kind of credit. Additionally you cannot file for bankruptcy or do anything that creates a credit report or a federal tax record. This is difficult, but it can be done and the system will simply forget that you exist. The advantage of of letting the system forget that you exist is that you can still apply for social security benefits later in life should you wish to do so. Note that minor police problems should not affect this waiting period. Getting a New Number Assigned There are few good reasons why you might want to get a new social security number assigned to you. The reasons usually have to do with personal or financial safety. For example a battered spouse or seriously threatened person may want to obtain a new number or someone whose identity has been stolen for the purpose of financial fraud.