The following automated sources of verification and information are available:
State Data Exchange (SDX)—Verifies SSI benefits and other information such as birth date and Social Security number.
Social Security Number Posting System—Lists newly issued SSNs posted to the CIS data base. The CAO must verify the posted number by comparing it to the number on the person’s Social Security card.
Income Eligibility Verification System (IEVS)—Verifies unemployment compensation, SSI, and Social Security benefits and is also a resource for unverified information on earned income, private pensions, unearned income reported to the Internal Revenue Service, and criminal history.
The CAO can use automated sources of information on a need-to-know basis without the person’s consent. The CAO must:
give the person the chance to provide other sources of verification if he or she disagrees with the automated information; and
not delay timely determination of eligibility if automated sources are not available.
The OIM Procedures Manual, Using IEVS, has complete information and instruction for IEVS use. See Appendix C for an Income Eligibility Verification System (IEVS) desk guide.
The IEVS data exchange may be used only to get information about applicants, recipients, and other persons, such as LRRs and stepparents, whose income and resources are considered to determine eligibility.
The CAO must restrict access to IEVS to persons involved in the administration of benefits. It is important to protect information in IEVS. Improper, unauthorized use of IEVS to get information about persons other than applicants, recipients, or those whose income and resources must be considered may result in fines, imprisonment, or both.
IEVS uses the person’s Social Security number (SSN) to get income or resource information from the following sources:
Office of Employment Security (OES) wage file and UC file
Social Security Administration (SSA) Bendex Master Benefit Record (MBR) and Bendex Earnings Reference File (ERF)
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Unearned Income File
Headquarters conducts data exchanges for each source at regularly scheduled intervals. A person is included in the match if his or her SSN appears in an active budget at the time of the exchange.
NOTE: The SSN of a non–budget group member living in the common residence is also included if that member is listed in the CIS database with an eligibility status code of NS or NA.
In addition to the scheduled exchanges, the CAO can begin a match by completing an on-line "Information Request" transaction:
at the time of the screening interview, to get information on applicants;
when a new member is added to the budget group;
to get information about a person whose income and resources are counted but whose SSN is not included in an active budget; and
between the scheduled exchanges, when the CAO believes that the budget group's income or resources have changed.
Examples:
The CAO suspects that a recipient's unemployment compensation status changed due to filing a claim, exhaustion of a claim, or an increase or decrease in amount, and the change took place after the most recently scheduled UC data exchange.
The CAO verifies that an adult budget group member is using a minor's SSN for employment purposes.
The CAO must review information available from data exchanges at application or renewal. The CAO must act on "new" information identified by the system within 45 calendar days of the posting of the information to IEVS.
Information from OES-UC and SSA BENDEX-MBR is considered verified upon receipt. It may be used without further verification, unless it conflicts with information provided by the budget group. Information from OES-WAGE, SSA BENDEX-ERF, and IRS always requires further verification.
If information revealed through IEVS was not reported or conflicts with statements made by the person, the CAO must take the following actions:
Access the Work Number website at www.theworknumber.com to see if the employer from IEVS is listed on the website.
If the employer is not listed on the Work Number website, send the Client Verification Request Form (PA 162-VR), allowing the person 10 calendar days to respond.
Send an Advance Notice to close the budget if the person refuses or does not cooperate within 10 days.
Request verification of income and resources from the appropriate third party to determine if an overpayment has occurred.
The IEVS system will match the information already known and will not require a disposition for those exchanges. A disposition is required based on the exchange information if:
Exchange #1 Wage Information:
the income reason codes 001-009 do not appear on CIS;
the employer number is new or changed when compared to previous IEVS information; and/or
the amount of total wages for the quarter changed by $500.00 or more (increase or decrease).
Exchange #2 Unemployment Benefit (UC) Information:
the first character of First Name/First three characters of Last Name matches and the UC adjustment code of 010 does not appear on CIS;
the UC adjustment code and/or the benefit amount has changed; and/or
the UC information received is new.
Exchange #4 Earnings Reference File (ER):
state benefits were received during the tax year covered by ERF data; and
there is no data on IEVS, OES wage exchange for the same tax year.
Exchange #5 Unearned Income:
benefits were received from the state during the tax year covered by the unearned income information; and/or
the match indicates income received from document types 32, 79, 86, 97, or 98, and the person received state benefits during the same tax year.
NOTE: If document type 86 is shown, an additional edit is performed on the ZIP code of the payer. A disposition is set if this ZIP code is not within Pennsylvania.
Exchange #10 Commonwealth Judicial Inquiry System (CJIS):
currently, no information received from any of the data sources should be considered as verified upon receipt and may only be used as a lead to help the IMCW identify the possibility of past or current criminal history; or
if verification is received, take action according to verification provided; or
if not received, send Advance Notice to close.
Reissued July 28, 2007, replacing September 27, 2005; reviewed October 7, 2013