Missing years in Social Security earnings record - 90 days processing time normal?

The SSA and IRS do share information, but it's not instant or automatic. Your earnings corrections are processed by a specialized unit. 90 days isn't unusual, especially if you filed during peak season. If those years had higher earnings than your other years, they could increase your PIA (Primary Insurance Amount) calculation significantly. It all depends on your highest 35 years of indexed earnings. Without knowing the specifics of your earnings record, it's hard to say if they'll make a big difference.

Same thing happened to me! Took over 4 months to get my missing years added. So frustrating! When they finally fixed it my benefit increased by $182/month which was worth the wait I guess.

SSA employees cant just look up your IRS records!!!! PRIVACY LAWS protect us!!!!! They have to submit formal requests to IRS and wait for processing. I waited SIX MONTHS for them to fix my earnings record and they STILL got it wrong the first time!!!!! Had to start all over again. The system is BROKEN!!!!

I've helped many clients through this process as a former SSA employee. The earnings correction process is handled by the Earnings Modernization Department. Unfortunately, direct contact with them isn't possible for claimants. What you can do: 1. Request a status update through your local office 2. Ask for a "protective filing date" to ensure retroactive payments 3. If it's been over 90 days, consider filing a "critical case" request Regarding the impact: Each year of higher earnings can potentially replace a lower-earning year in your top 35, which determine your benefit amount. The difference could be substantial or minimal depending on your overall earnings history.

After weeks of trying to reach SSA about a similar issue, I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to a representative without the endless wait. They connected me to SSA in about 15 minutes instead of the hours I was spending before. There's a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU if you're interested. It saved me so much frustration trying to reach someone who could actually help with my earnings record.

my aunt had missing years too and they fixed it after like 4 months. she kept calling but i don't think it helped speed anything up. the computer systems at ssa are super old thats what causes alot of the delays

Did u work under a different name those years? Or different ssn? Sometimes that causes problems. I had issues because I was married then divorced then married again and they had to match all my earnings under my different last names.

To answer your question about contacting the specific person: unfortunately, SSA doesn't generally allow direct contact with specific employees. Your best bet is to call the main number (1-800-772-1213) and request a callback from your local office regarding your case. Mention it's been 90+ days, which should elevate the priority. Regarding retroactivity: Yes, once your earnings record is corrected, any increase in benefits would be paid retroactively to your entitlement date, so you won't lose money due to the delay.

i wonder if a congressperson could help? my sister had an ssdi issue that was taking forever and she contacted her congressman's office and suddenly everything got fixed in like 2 weeks!

As someone who just went through this process, I can confirm that 90 days is unfortunately pretty typical. I submitted my W-2s for missing years back in October and didn't get resolution until January. The frustrating part is the complete lack of communication during the process - you're just left wondering if your paperwork got lost in the shuffle. One thing that helped me was keeping detailed records of everything I submitted (dates, fax confirmation numbers, etc.) and being very specific when I called about exactly what I had sent and when. The agents seemed more helpful when I could provide specific details rather than just saying "I sent my tax returns months ago." Also, regarding whether it's worth it - it really depends on your earnings pattern. In my case, the two missing years were actually lower than my current top 35, so they didn't change my benefit at all. But if those missing years had higher earnings than some of your lowest years in the calculation, it could make a significant difference. The SSA uses your highest 35 years of indexed earnings, so any year that's higher than your current lowest year in that calculation would increase your benefit. Hang in there - the waiting is the worst part, but they will eventually get to it.

I'm dealing with something very similar! Filed for retirement in December and they found 3 missing years from when I was doing contract work. It's been about 2.5 months since I submitted everything and still waiting. The lack of communication is the most frustrating part - you'd think they could at least send an update saying "we received your documents and they're in the queue." From what I've learned lurking in this community, it seems like the Earnings Modernization Department is severely backlogged. A friend who works at SSA (not in that department) told me they're still processing cases from last fall. One thing I discovered is that if you call and specifically ask for a "case status inquiry" rather than just asking about your application, sometimes you get routed to someone who can actually see more details about where your case stands in the process. The waiting is brutal when you don't know if those missing years will make a meaningful difference to your monthly benefit, but at this point we're all in too deep to give up!

I'm going through the exact same thing! Filed for retirement in October and discovered 4 missing years from the early 2000s when I was working multiple part-time jobs. Submitted all my W-2s and tax returns in November and it's now been over 4 months with zero communication from SSA. What's really frustrating is that when I log into my SSA account, it just shows my application as "pending" with no details about what stage it's in or estimated timeline. I've called three times and gotten three different answers about processing times - one agent said 60-90 days, another said up to 6 months, and the third one had no idea and just kept saying "it's being processed." The uncertainty is killing me because those missing years were from when I was working in tech during the dot-com boom, so the earnings were actually pretty decent. They could potentially bump up my monthly benefit significantly, but I have no way of knowing until this whole process finally gets resolved. Has anyone had luck getting more specific information by visiting their local SSA office in person rather than calling? I'm wondering if face-to-face might get better results than the phone representatives who seem to have limited access to case details.