Social Security to correct tax form

WASHINGTON -- Due to a programming error, incorrect Social Security income amounts are shown on SSA-1099 forms sent to about 2.7 million beneficiaries, according the Social Security Administration's Web site.

Every January, the agency mails the benefit forms to about 53 million beneficiaries who received a payment from the agency during the previous calendar year.

The programming error caused Medicare Part C and/or Part D premium deduction amounts (and some garnishment deduction amounts) for 2006 to be included in the amounts reported for 2007. As a result, the "Benefits for 2007" fields (Box 3 and Box 5 of SSA-1099) and the "Description of Amount in Box 3" field contain inaccurate amounts on some forms.

Revised forms are being created and will be mailed by Jan. 25, according to the agency.

The revised mailer states, in red typeface, this is a "corrected notice" and the revised SSA-1099 should be used in place of the previous notice. The form itself is marked "corrected tax information," also in red typeface.

Agency offices have been notified of the problem, according to the Web site.

The agency will also send the IRS replacement files so IRS databases will contain the same taxpayer information as the revised SSA-1099 statements, the agency said.