Social Security Number Suppression in Federal ACH Payments

Change implemented to further protect consumers receiving federal payments

The Department of the Treasury, Financial Management Service (FMS), recently put measures into place to further protect the identifying information found in federal government ACH payments. Effective November 2010, Treasury began a phased-in strategy to suppress Social Security Numbers (SSN) in federal government ACH payments. Daily Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is the first payment type in which the SSN will be suppressed. Implementation began November 15, 2010, and will be followed by monthly recurring SSI payments dated December 1, 2010.

Additionally, federal salary, vendor and other miscellaneous payments will be impacted by the change from November 15, 2010 through April 2011. Social Security Administration (SSA), Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), Veterans Administration (VA) and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) daily and monthly recurring payment types will NOT be included in this phase. Implementation dates for these payment types will be announced at a later date.

In the ‘six record’ (Entry detail record) FMS will place 'zeros' in positions 40 – 44, the last four digits of the SSN in positions 45 - 48, and the existing payment type specific information in positions 49 - 54. For example:

SSI Monthly ACH:
Format:	Identification Number	Explanation of content in ID field
Current:	123456789 SSI	Three spaces between SSN and SSI
Future:	000006789 SSI	Five zeros, last four digits of SSN, three spaces Between SSN and SSI
PD/CCD formatted ACH:
Format	Identification Number	Explanation of content in ID field
Current:	123456789abcdefg	abcdefg is the first six digits of the issuing agency ALC (Agency Location Code)
Future:	000006789abcdefg	Five zeros, last four digits of SSN, six digits of the issuing agency ALC

To ensure the timely processing of return transactions and notification of change entries, it remains crucial for financial institutions to accurately populate data fields from the original entry (e.g., Original Effective Entry Date, Original Entry RTN, Original Entry Trace Number, Amount, and DFI Account Number). By enforcing sound payment practices and contingency planning, Treasury continues working toward providing secure payments to those consumers receiving federal payments. Should you have any questions, please contact the Treasury’s Kansas City Financial Center at (816)/414-2100.