TN 4 (10-11)

A. Field Office (FO) operating procedure

The FO employees must take the following actions to process a waiver of benefits request:

• Explanation—Give the requester a full explanation of the impact of waiving payments.

• Reminder—Remind the requester to continue to report events to SSA, even though we are not currently making payments.

• Form SSA-149 (Waiver of Benefit Payments)—Obtain a signed SSA-149. For a copy of the form, see OS 15010.125.

• SMI Premiums Not Waived—Modify the SSA-149 by inserting in the first paragraph after “. . . except as provided in paragraph 4 below . . .” the following: “and except such amounts which equal the amounts required as premiums for Supplementary Medical Insurance for the aged under the provisions of title XVIII of the Social Security Act. The funds excepted from this request shall be transferred to the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance trust fund in the amounts determined by SSA.”

B. Payment Center (PC) operating procedure

The PC employee must take the following actions to process a waiver of benefits request:

• Referral—Refer waiver requests received in the (PC) to the servicing Field Office (FO) to process.

• Review—Review the SSA-149 for completeness and acceptability.

• Suspension—If the request for waiver is acceptable, suspend payment to that particular beneficiary.

• Adjustment—Do not adjust the benefits of other entitled beneficiaries because we do not make payments to the beneficiary who waived payment.

• Diary—If the beneficiary is in work suspense, or later reports that he or she expects to earn over the allowable amount, establish controls to secure the annual report of earnings.