The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has teamed up with the Social Security Administration to provide one more thing to keep law firm HR Directors awake at night. Currently, if an employer submits a withholding report for an employee with a social security number that does not match Social Security Administration numbers, the employer receives a notification but not specific directions on actions to be taken. Basically the new regulations (which have yet to be approved) require the employer to resolve the discrepancy with the employee and then provide a detailed follow-up report to the Department of Homeland Security.  

 

How big a problem are no-match numbers? Each year about 10 percent of 250 million wage earning reports do not match social security numbers. It is suspected that most are typos or transposition errors by the worker but there are no reliable statistics. 

 

There is, however, good news in the proposal for law firms. Under the regulations, I-9 forms (proof of citizenship) could be kept electronically. Experts project that the rules will be issued but probably not for another year or more.