Social Security Will Stop Mailing Earnings Statements

Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue says that it hopes to have the statements online by the end of the year, once security issues can be resolved. These statements are a key tool in helping individuals plan for retirement. It allows a person to project future benefit payments based on average earnings over the course of a work lifetime.

However, advocates for older Americans say they are sympathetic about the SSA's budget problems, but have pointed out that many older Americans may not have the computer skills necessary to access this information or may not have access to a computer; showing that an online only option is insufficient.

The statements, which have been mailed to American worker's over the age of 25 since the 1980's, are a way for worker's to check for mistakes in earned income, and also to keep track of the total amount of Social Security and Medicare taxes paid over the lifetime of the worker. The statements also provide an estimate of montly benefits based on current earnings and when the person plans to retire. The SSA now offers an online benefits estimator on their website that can be more helpful than the actual earnings statements. The website does not however, provide detailed earnings and payroll tax history that the statements previously provided. While the website tool is useful for running scenarios about retirement, it does not give the worker the concrete information that the mailed statements did.

Ending the statements is part of a government trend to conduct more business electronically. For more information on social security earnings statements please visit www.ssa.gov

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