What Do the First Three Numbers of Social Security Designate?
Social Security numbers are required to file income tax returns. They are also used as an individual identifier within the United States. The first three digits of a Social Security number indicate where the person applied for their number.
Other People Are Reading
-
History
-
Social Security numbers were originally used to track income. Each state was assigned "area numbers" to be used as the first three digits of this nine-digit identifier and in 1936 post offices around the United States distributed cards.
Significance
-
The Internal Revenue Service adopted Social Security numbers in 1962 as the official taxpayer identification number. In 1986, children over five years old could not be claimed as dependents without a Social Security number.
-
Function
-
Social Security numbers are provided as part of the Social Security Act of 1935 to ensure that when workers retire at the age of 65, they have income to live on. Later amendments gave benefits to the families of workers and changed when a person could apply for this benefit.
Fun Fact
-
The first Social Security number was assigned to a 23-year-old New York man who died at the age of 61 without ever receiving Social Security benefits.
Famous Ties
-
An Albany, New York, artist, Fred Happel, who created the Flying Tigers logo used during WWII also designed the first Social Security card.
-
