The Social Security Act defines the basic statute of limitations beyond which earnings ordinarily may not be corrected: 3 years, 3 months, and 15 days after the close of the taxable year in which wages are paid or SEI is derived. However, the Act also defines exceptions to protect Social Security contributors from unfair treatment because of any delay on the part of the Social Security Administration in processing earnings. The exceptions permit Social Security to correct errors after the statute has expired and include authority to:

• Confirm records with tax returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service;
• Correct errors due to employee omissions from processed employer reports or missing reports;
• Correct errors "on the face of the record," that is, errors Social Security can find by examining the Social Security Administration’s records of processed reports; and
• Include wages reported by an employer as paid to an individual but not shown in the Social Security Administration’s records.