Your earnings history is a record of your progress toward your future Social Security benefits and Social Security tracks your earnings so they can pay you the benefits you’ve earned through your working years.

Jack Myers at Social Security indicates when they calculate your retirement benefit amount, we use your 35 best years - adjusted for inflation. It is important for you to review your earnings record for accuracy and it is your employer’s responsibility to provide accurate earnings information to us, but it is your responsibility to review your records to ensure that happened. 

Failure to report even one year of earnings to us could potentially cause a reduction in your monthly Social Security benefits. Myers notes only you can verify that your earnings record is accurate. However, if you spot a problem it is easy to fix as long as you have your W-2. If you are self-employed, Social Security would need to see your tax return and proof of tax paid. These documents are going to be much easier to come up with if you spot the problem early. 

The easiest way to review your earnings record is through your mySocialSecurity account - ssa.gov/myaccount. When reviewing your earnings record against W-2s, compare what Social Security has for earnings with the Social Security wages box on your W-2 or W-2s. 

Myers adds it takes some time for them to process all wage reports from a prior year, so don’t be concerned early in the year if they don’t have last year’s updated yet. If you had multiple employers, you could see one W-2 show up before the others. 

If you do spot a problem, you can visit a Social Security office or mail or fax a letter along with copes of your W-2s or self-employment records. 

Local office contact information can be found at: www.ssa.gov/locator.