Civil Monetary Penalty and Administrative Sanctions Provisions Are In Effect

In two notices  (below) in the May 16, 2007 federal register, SSA announced the operation of the  centralized computer system that was the prerequisite for imposing civil  monetary penalties for withholding information from or failing to provide information to SSA. The upshot of  the first notice is that that 20 CFR 498.102(a)(3), as it relates to the withholding of information from, or failure to disclose information to, SSA, is applicable to violations committed after November 27, 2006.  The upshot of the second notice is that on November 27, 2006, the revisions to 20 CFR 404.459 and 419.1340 expanding the situations where administrative sanctions may be imposed became applicable.
 
A person is subject to a sanction for failing to disclose information that is material to determining title II/title XVI  benefit eligibility or amounts if: 

• The person knows or should know the information is material to benefit eligibility or amount; and
• The person knows or should know the withholding of the information is misleading;  and 
• The failure to disclose  occurred after November 27, 2006