3 Ways to verify your income and social security benefits

Once in a while you will receive a green letter from the social security office with your earnings and credits for social security. This is very important information to have since it should match the W2’s and what you filed with the IRS to the penny. This is one way to make sure your employer and Payroll Company have recorded your earnings and more importantly paid the taxes. Here are a few ways you can verify the information on your own at any time.

1. Wage and Income Transcript – This is a transcript you can request from the IRS online or by phone. There are several types of transcripts your can request from the IRS depending on what information you need but this one will give you all of the Income statements filed with the IRS and you can request up to 7 years of them. You can find out more information on the transcript types here. You will have to create an online account if you want to pull the transcript online. If not, you can either for it to be delivered by mail at this link or finally, you can call the IRS and request it by phone at 1-800-908-9946.
2. Social Security Statement – This is the statement we mentioned earlier. If you have never received this you can take it upon yourself to request the letter which will give you an estimate for retirement benefits you may be eligible for. It also shows your current earning record and history which should match up dollar for dollar with the wage and income transcript for any W2s received. You can also request this statement online, by phone or by mail here.
3. Employer W2 and Payroll Summary Reports – Lastly, you can request copies of your W2’s from your employer if you don’t already have them. Additionally you want to request a copy of your payroll summaries for the years you need to verify. If you are on platforms like ADP or PayChex for payroll you can also pull your W2’s from the system itself without having to request them. Payroll summaries unfortunately will have to be provided by the employer.

Once you have acquired all three of these you can compare them and make sure that they all match. Your W2 will match your Wage and income statement from the IRS and while you Social Security statement will not show taxes paid, it will show income reported. If these all match rest easy, all of your income has been reported and taxes paid on your behalf. At Certified Payroll Advisors we partner with the largest payroll platforms in the country which makes accessing all of these records extremely easy and are able to provide the technology to always have any records you need at your fingertips. If you have any concerns or need any guidance please do not hesitate to contact us.