Help Keep Your Social Security Record Accurate

An Excerpt from the Social Security Administration Newsletter:

You, your employer and Social Security share responsibility for the accuracy of your earnings record. Since you began working, we recorded your reported earnings under your name and Social Security number. We have updated your record each time your employer (or you, if you're self-employed) reported your earnings.

Remember, it's your earnings, not the amount of taxes you paid or the number of credits you've earned, that determine your benefit amount. When we figure that amount, we base it on your average earnings over your lifetime. If our records are wrong, you may not receive all the benefits to which you're entitled.

There's a limit on the amount of earnings on which you pay Social Security Security taxes each year. The limit increases yearly. Earnings above the limit will not appear on your earnings chart as Social Security earnings. (For Medicare taxes, the maximum earnings amount began rising in 1991. Since 1994, all of your earnings are taxed for Medicare.)

Call us right away at 1-800-772-1213 (7 a.m.-7 p.m. your local time) if any earnings for years before last year are shown incorrectly. Please have your W-2 or tax return for those years available.

You and your family may be eligible for valuable benefits:

• When you die, your family may be eligible to receive survivors benefits.
• Social Security may help you if you become disabled-even at a young age.
• A young person who has worked and paid Social Security taxes in as few as two years can be eligible for disability benefits.
• Social Security credits you earn move with you from job to job throughout your career.

For more information on Social Security benefits, contact your local Social Security Administration Office or visit their website at www.socialsecurity.gov/mystatement.

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