[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 153 (Thursday, August 10, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 54389]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-17146]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

[Docket No. SSA 2023-0017]


Notice of Verification Transaction Fee Increase for Consent Based 
Social Security Number Verification Service

AGENCY: Social Security Administration.

ACTION: Notice of fee increase.

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SUMMARY: The Social Security Administration (SSA) is announcing a fee 
increase for the Consent Based Social Security Number (SSN) 
Verification (CBSV) service. We provide a fee-based SSN verification 
service to enrolled private businesses and government agencies who 
obtain a valid, signed consent form from the Social Security number 
holder.

DATES: Applicability date for fee increase: The verification 
transaction fee increase will go into effect on October 1, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Vivian Adebayo, Branch Chief, Office 
of Data Exchange, Policy Publications, and International Negotiations, 
Social Security Administration, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, 
Maryland 21235-6401, (866) 395-8801, email [email protected].
    For information on eligibility or filing for benefits, call SSA's 
national toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213 or TTY 1-800-325-0778, or 
visit SSA's internet site, Social Security Online, at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Based on the consent forms, we verify the 
number holders' SSNs for the requesting party. The Privacy Act of 1974 
(5 U.S.C. 552a(b)), section 1106 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1306) and our regulation at 20 CFR 401.100, establish the legal 
authority for us to provide SSN verifications to third party requesters 
based on the written consent of the subject of the record. The CBSV 
process provides the business community and other government entities 
with consent-based SSN verifications in high volume. We developed CBSV 
as a user-friendly, internet-based application with safeguards that 
will protect the public's information. In addition to the benefit of 
providing high volume, centralized SSN verification services to the 
business community in a secure manner, CBSV provides us with cost and 
workload management benefits.
    New Information: Currently, to use CBSV, interested parties must 
pay a one-time non-refundable enrollment fee of $5,000 and pay a fee of 
$1.00 per SSN verification transaction in advance of services. This 
$1.00 fee has been in place since fiscal year (FY) 2017. We calculate 
our costs periodically for providing CBSV services and adjust the fees 
as needed. We will notify our customers who currently use the service 
and allow them to cancel or continue using the service at the new 
transaction fee. Based on the most recent cost and transaction 
analysis, we will adjust the FY 2024 fee to $2.25 per SSN verification 
transaction in advance of services. New customers will still be 
responsible for the one-time $5,000 enrollment fee.
    The primary reason for the fee increase is the declining volume in 
CBSV services. CBSV transactional volumes have decreased from 3.1 
million transactions in FY 2021 to 2.1 million transactions in FY 2022. 
For FY 2023, we are projecting less than 1 million transactions based 
on current usage. Due to the significant decline in transactions, the 
per transaction costs are increasing. We will reevaluate transactional 
volumes in FY 2024. If the transaction volumes continue to decline, we 
will issue a subsequent notice to increase the CBSV fees again during 
FY 2024. We note that any unused advances and any fees collected in 
excess of our actual costs per transactions each year for CBSV services 
are refunded after the end of the fiscal year.

Stephen Evangelista,
Acting Deputy Commissioner, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy, 
Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-17146 Filed 8-9-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P