[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 166 (Tuesday, August 29, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41085-41086]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-18248]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

[Docket No: SSA-2017-0045]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request and 
Comment Request

    The Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes a list of 
information collection packages requiring clearance by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with Public Law 104-13, the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, effective October 1, 1995. This notice 
includes revisions of OMB-approved information collections.
    SSA is soliciting comments on the accuracy of the agency's burden 
estimate; the need for the information; its practical utility; ways to 
enhance its quality, utility, and clarity; and ways to minimize burden 
on respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology. Mail, email, or fax your 
comments and recommendations on the information collection(s) to the 
OMB Desk Officer and SSA Reports Clearance Officer at the following 
addresses or fax numbers.

(OMB), Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for SSA, 
Fax: 202-395-6974,Email address: [email protected].
(SSA), Social Security Administration, OLCA, Attn: Reports Clearance 
Director, 3100 West High Rise, 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 
21235, Fax: 410-966-2830, Email address: [email protected].

    Or you may submit your comments online through www.regulations.gov, 
referencing Docket ID Number [SSA-2017-0045].
    I. The information collections below are pending at SSA. SSA will 
submit them to OMB within 60 days from the date of this notice. To be 
sure we consider your comments, we must receive them no later than 
October 30, 2017. Individuals can obtain copies of the collection 
instruments by writing to the above email address.
    1. Partnership Questionnaire--20 CFR 404.1080-404.1082(e)--0960-
0025. SSA considers partnership income in determining entitlement to 
Social Security benefits. SSA uses information from Form SSA-7104 to 
determine several aspects of eligibility for benefits, including the 
accuracy of reported partnership earnings; the veracity of a 
retirement; and lag earnings where SSA needs this information to 
determine the status of the insured. The respondents are applicants 
for, and recipients of, Title II Social Security benefits who are 
reporting partnership earnings.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

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                                                                                               Estimated total
     Modality of       Number of respondents  Frequency of response    Average burden per       annual burden
      completion                                                       response (minutes)          (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          SSA-7104                 12,350                      1                     30                 6,175
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    2. Supplement to Claim of Person Outside the United States--20 CFR 
422.505(b), 404.460, 404.463, and 42 CFR 407.27(c)--0960-0051. 
Claimants or beneficiaries (both United States (U.S.) citizens and 
aliens entitled to benefits) living outside the U.S. complete Form SSA-
21 as a supplement to an application for benefits. SSA collects the 
information to determine eligibility for U.S. Social Security benefits 
for those months an alien beneficiary or claimant is outside the U.S., 
and to determine if tax withholding applies. In addition, SSA uses the 
information to: (1) Allow beneficiaries or claimants to request a 
special payment exception in an SSA restricted country; (2) terminate 
supplemental medical insurance coverage for recipients who request it, 
because they are, or will be, out of the United States; and (3) allow 
claimants to collect a lump sum death benefit if the number holder died 
outside the U.S. and we do not have information to determine whether 
the lump sum death benefit is payable under the Social Security Act 
(Act). The respondents are Social Security claimants, or individuals 
entitled to Social Security benefits, who are, were, or will be 
residing outside the U.S. three months or longer.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

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                                                                                  Average burden     Estimated
             Modality of completion                  Number of     Frequency of    per response    total annual
                                                    respondents      response        (minutes)    burden (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paper SSA-21--U.S. Residents....................             510               1              14             119
Paper SSA-21--Residents of a Tax Treaty Country.           2,751               1               9             413
Paper SSA-21--Nonresident aliens................           1,835               1               8             245
Modernized Claims System (MCS) Macros SSA-21--             1,325               1              11             243
 U.S. Residents.................................
MCS Macros SSA 21--Residents of a Tax Treaty               7,153               1               6             715
 Country........................................
MCS Macros SSA 21--Nonresident aliens...........           4,769               1               5             397
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals......................................          18,343  ..............  ..............           2,132
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    II. SSA submitted the information collections below to OMB for 
clearance. Your comments regarding these information collections would 
be most useful if OMB and SSA receive them 30 days from the date of 
this publication. To be sure we consider your comments, we must receive 
them no later than September 28, 2017. Individuals can obtain copies of 
the OMB clearance packages by writing to [email protected].
    1. Application for Search of Census Records for Proof of Age--20 
CFR 404.716--0960-0097. When preferred evidence of age is not 
available, or the available evidence is not convincing, SSA may ask the 
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, to search its 
records to establish a claimant's date of birth. SSA collects 
information from claimants using Form SSA-1535-U3 to provide the Census 
Bureau with sufficient identification

[[Page 41086]]

information to allow an accurate search of census records. 
Additionally, the Census Bureau uses a completed, signed SSA-1535-U3 to 
bill SSA for the search. The respondents are applicants for Social 
Security benefits who need to establish their date of birth as a factor 
of entitlement.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

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                                                                                  Average burden     Estimated
             Modality of completion                  Number of     Frequency of    per response    total annual
                                                    respondents      response        (minutes)    burden (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSA-1535-U3.....................................          18,030               1              12           3,606
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    2. State Death Match Collections--20 CFR 404.301, 404.310-404.311, 
404.316, 404.330-404.341, 404.350-404.352, 404.371, and 416.912--0960-
0700. SSA uses the State Death Match Collections to ensure the accuracy 
of payment files by detecting unreported or inaccurate deaths of 
beneficiaries. Under the Act, entitlement to retirement, disability, 
wife's, husband's, or parent's benefits terminate when the beneficiary 
dies. The states furnish death certificate information to SSA via the 
manual registration process, or the Electronic Death Registration 
process (EDR). Both death match processes are automated electronic 
transfers between the states and SSA. The respondents are the states' 
bureaus of vital statistics.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                     Estimated
                                     Number of     Frequency of      Number of     Average cost    total annual
     Modality of  completion        respondents      response        responses      per record        burden
                                                                                      request         (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Death Match--CyberFusion/               45           3,700         166,500            $.88        $146,520
 GSO: Non-EDR Records from EDR
 sites..........................
State Death Match--CyberFusion/               12          48,000         576,000             .88         506,880
 GSO: Non-EDR sites.............
    Total: Non[dash]EDR.........              57  ..............  ..............  ..............         653,400
State Death Match-EDR...........              45          48,500       2,182,500            3.17       6,918,525
States Expected to Become--State               7          62,600         438,200            3.17       1,389,094
 Death Match-EDR Within the Next
 3 Years........................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total: EDR and Expected EDR.              52  ..............  ..............  ..............       8,307,619
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Grand Totals............             109  ..............  ..............  ..............      *8,961,019
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* Please note that both of these data matching processes are electronic and there is only a cost burden, and no
  hourly burden for the respondent to provide this information.

    3. Application for Access to SSA Systems--20 CFR 401.45--0960-0791. 
SSA uses Form SSA-120, Application for Access to SSA Systems, to allow 
limited access to SSA's information resources for SSA employees and 
non-Federal employees (contractors). SSA requires supervisory approval, 
and local or component Security Officer review, prior to granting this 
access. The respondents are SSA employees and non-Federal Employees 
(contractors) who require access to SSA systems to perform their jobs.

    Note: Because SSA employees are Federal workers exempt from the 
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the burden below is 
only for SSA contractors.

    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                  Average burden     Estimated
             Modality of completion                  Number of     Frequency of    per response    total annual
                                                    respondents      response        (minutes)    burden (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSA-120 (paper version).........................             685               1               2              23
SSA-120 (Internet version)......................           1,482               1             1.5              37
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals......................................           2,167  ..............  ..............              60
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    Dated: August 24, 2017.
Naomi R. Sipple,
Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2017-18248 Filed 8-28-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4191-02-P