Happy New Year

 

Happy New Year!

 

And It Didn't Get Trump Re-Elected!

      From Stars and Stripes:

Members of the armed forces and federal employees have 12 months instead of four to pay back Social Security taxes that haven't been collected since September, officials said this week.

The so-called payroll tax deferral, which was put in place by the Trump administration for the last four months of 2020 to help workers during the coronavirus pandemic, meant that many working Americans — including service members and federal employees — had an extra 6.2% of money in each paycheck.

But starting with the first pay period of 2021, the extra money has to be paid back. And, on top of that, Social Security taxes will be collected again.

Initially, the money was supposed to be repaid by April 30 in equal amounts, which would have meant a dip in paychecks of 12.4%.

But this week, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service announced the period to collect the deferred tax has been extended until Dec. 31, 2021, meaning the money will be deducted in even amounts over 26 pay periods instead of eight. ...

     This is just the Department of Defense. Are other federal agencies doing the same? 

     By the way, like the overwhelming majority of private employers, my law firm never stopped collecting FICA.

Ramping Up The Heat On Saul

      From Joe Davidson's column at the Washington Post:

The Social Security Administration’s internal watchdog has bit it, again, for shortchanging beneficiaries, this time as employee and advocacy groups are pushing for the removal of its political appointees.

A report from the agency’s inspector general’s office is replete with complaints about the agency failing to make people whole. ...

Just as money is a problem for those who didn’t get Social Security checks, money is one reason the agency can’t get the checks out on time, according to Web Phillips, an analyst and consultant with the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Social Security has too much to do for its staff and resources, said Phillips, who worked there for three decades. “This is being driven by the availability of resources,” he said. “It’s not that there are bad people who don’t care. It’s just that they have to triage the work that they’ve got.” ...

The inspector general’s reproach was issued just two days after two federal employee unions, the Association of Administrative Law Judges and the National Council of SSA Field Operations Locals (Council 220), declared no confidence in President Trump’s Social Security appointees. That same week, Social Security Works said Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul and Deputy Commissioners David Black and Mark Warshawsky should be removed “immediately.” Council 22 also urged their removal. ...

Time and again, the inspector general’s report said “we found no evidence,” or similar wording, to describe Social Security’s repeated failures to appropriately address the problems of underpayments ...

Rep. John B. Larson, chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee, called the report’s finding “alarming.” ...

“Underpayments are just as important as overpayments,” said Larson (D-Conn.), “and SSA leaders need to pay as much attention to preventing and correcting underpayments as they do to overpayments.” Next month, his panel will examine reasons for the errors and ways to fix them.

Speaking as “the Republican leader on Social Security,” Rep. Tom Reed (N.Y.) promised to hold SSA accountable. “It’s not fair that in some cases the SSA pays people less than they’ve earned, and the SSA needs to do better,” said Reed, the subcommittee’s ranking minority-party member. ...

“SSA’s misplaced focus on overpayments rather than on all improper payments (including underpayments),” [Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works] wrote by email, “is the result of decades of Republican leadership that’s focused on preventing people from getting the benefits they’ve earned.” ...

OHO Overtime Plummets In November

         The report shown below was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in its newsletter, which is not available online to non-members. It contains basic operating statistics for Social Security's Office of Hearings Operations. 

Click on image to view full size

Whither Saul?

      The nearest comparable situation to the one we have now with the Commissioner of Social Security holding over or not holding over into a new Administration was in 2008 after the election of Barack Obama. Then Commissioner Astrue was the first Commissioner confirmed to a fixed term in office. He had been nominated by a Republican President. Astrue's term extended into Obama's term. After Obama was elected I heard at least one person in a position to know say that there was no way Astrue could stay on after Obama took office. We didn't hear anything for more than a month after election day. However, on December 11, 2008 I was able to post about an interview that Astrue had given where he said he would stay in office during the Obama Presidency. We're further along than this in December and I have not heard a word aboutAndrew Saul's plans.

     This situation is not completely the same as before. Astrue was acknowledged by all as competent; Saul, not so much. Astrue had stepped on some toes but not nearly to the extent of Andrew Saul, who seems to have gone out of his way to offend, particularly to offend employee unions which are an important Democratic constituency. Democrats definitely want Saul out. There is the issue now of whether Saul can be fired without cause. That constitutional issue had not emerged in 2008.

     I don't know what's going to happen but it's surprising to me that Saul hasn't either said he's leaving soon or taken some action to let it be known that he's going to try to hang on.

Six Million?

      From Cox Media Group:

The Social Security Administration plays a critical role in helping people with financial relief in their later years of life, but for some people, the checks don’t ever stop.

“What we found is their books are a mess,” said Adam Andrzejewski with OpenTheBooks.com.

He shared data with us that showed 6 million Social Security numbers that were active for people aged 112-years-old and older.

 “Here’s the problem: there’s only 40 of those people alive in the entire world,” Andrzejewski said. “Last year, Social Security paid out $8 billion improperly.” ...

A bill has been introduced in the Senate to stop dead people from receiving these payments, but Andrzejewski said it has gone nowhere.

     I have no idea whether the 6 million number is accurate but 6 million who are not listed as dead is not the same thing as 6 million dead people receiving benefits. This is so wildly misleading that it raises questions about the motivations of the people behind this "revelation".

     In the end, if you want better efforts to police the death master file, you want to give the Social Security Administration a lot more money for its operating budget. You could, in the alternative, ask whether maintaining the list of dead people should even be the responsibility of the Social Security Administration.

December 26