The Social Security Administration’s National Remittance Process
Office Affiliation: The Office of Audit
Audit Report Number: A-04-16-50111
SSA receives remittances for a variety of reasons, but the majority are to repay overpaid benefits. Remittances primarily consist of checks/money orders and credit card charges. SSA also receives a small number of cash payments. SSA’s Remittance and Accounting Unit (RAU) in the Mid-Atlantic Program Service Center is primarily responsible for processing remittances. However, SSA’s field offices, teleservice centers, and Office of International Operations also process some remittances.
RAU receives remittances from individuals, employers, payroll processing contractors, Federal Courts, and banks. RAU is responsible for processing remittances it receives as well as the program-related remittances received in field offices. In Fiscal Year 2015, RAU processed over 1.7 million remittances, totaling over $892 million.
We issued this report to determine whether SSA processed remittances accurately and timely.