6654 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 262, (1) the "contribution and benefit base" with respect to remuneration paid in (and taxable years beginning in) any calendar year after 1973 and prior to the calendar year with the June of which the first increase in benefits pursuant to section 215(i) of this Act becomes effective shall be $13,200 or (if applicable) such other amount as may be specified in a law enacted subsequent to the law which added this section, and (2) the "contribution and benefit base" with respect to remuneration paid (and taxable years beginning) (A) in 1978 shall be $17,700, (B) in 1979 shall be $22,900, (C) in 1980 shall be $25,900, and For purposes of determining under subsection (b) the "contribution and benefit base" with respect to remuneration paid (and taxable years beginning) in 1982 and subsequent years, the dollar amounts specified in clause (2) of the preceding sentence shall be considered to have resulted from the application of such subsection (b) and to be the amount determined (with respect to the years involved) under that subsection. (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the contribution and benefit base determined under this section for any calendar year after 1976 for purposes of section 4022(b)(3)(B) of Public Law 93-406 263, with respect to any plan, shall be the contribution and benefit base that would have been determined for such year if this section as in effect immediately prior to the enactment of the Social Security Amendments of 1977 264 had remained in effect without change (except that, for purposes of subsection (b) of such section 230 as so in effect, the reference to the contribution and benefit base in paragraph (1) of such subsection (b) shall be deemed a reference to an amount equal to $45,000, each reference in paragraph (2) of such subsection (b) to the average of the wages of all employees as reported to the Secretary of Treasury shall be deemed a reference to the national average wage index (as defined in section 209(k)(1)), the reference to a preceding calendar year in paragraph (2)(A) of such subsection (b) shall be deemed a reference to the calendar year before the calendar year in which the determination under subsection (a) of such section 230 is made, and the reference to a calendar year in paragraph (2)(B) of such subsection (b) shall be deemed a reference to 1992). BENEFITS IN CASE OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS INTERNED DURING WORLD WAR II SEC. 231. [42 U.S.C. 431] (a) For the purposes of this section the term "internee" means an individual who was interned during any period of time from December 7, 1941, through December 31, 1946, at a place within the United States operated by the Government of the United States for the internment of United States citizens of Japanese ancestry. (b)(1) For purposes of determining entitlement to and the amount of any monthly benefit for any month after December 1972, or entitlement to and the amount of any lump-sum death payment in the 262 See P.L. 83-591, §§1402, 3121, 3122, and 3125 (this volume) and Vol. II for §§6413 and 6654. 263 See Vol. II, P.L. 93-406. 264 December 20, 1977 (P.L. 95-216, 91 Stat. 1509]. case of a death after such month, payable under this title on the basis of the wages and self-employment income of any individual, and for purposes of section 216(i)(3), such individual shall be deemed to have been paid during any period after he attained age 18 and for which he was an internee, wages (in addition to any wages actually paid to him) at a weekly rate of basic pay during such period as follows (A) in the case such individual was not employed prior to the beginning of such period, 40 multiplied by the minimum hourly rate or rates in effect at any such time under section 206(a)(1) of title 29, United States Code, for each full week during such period; and (B) in the case such individual who was employed prior to the beginning of such period, 40 multiplied by the greater of (i) the highest hourly rate received during any such employment, or (ii) the minimum hourly rate or rates in effect at any such time under section 206(a)(1) of title 29, United States Code 265, for each full week during such period. (2) This subsection shall not be applicable in the case of any monthly benefit or lump-sum death payment if— (A) a larger such benefit or payment, as the case may be, would be payable without its application; or (B) a benefit (other than a benefit payable in a lump-sum unless it is a commutation of, or a substitute for, periodic payments) which is based, in whole or in part, upon internment during any period from December 7, 1941, through December 31, 1946, at a place within the United States operated by the Government of the United States for the internment of United States citizens of Japanese ancestry, is determined by any agency or wholly owned instrumentality of the United States to be payable by it under any other law of the United States or under a system established by such agency or instrumentality. The provisions of clause (B) shall not apply in the case of any monthly benefit or lump-sum death payment under this title if its application would reduce by $0.50 or less the primary insurance amount (as computed under section 215 prior to any recomputation thereof pursuant to subsection (f) of such section) of the individual on whose wages and self-employment income such benefit or payment is based. The provisions of clause (B) shall also not apply for purposes of section 216(i)(3). (3) Upon application for benefits, a recalculation of benefits (by reason of this section), or a lump-sum death payment on the basis of the wages and self-employment income of any individual who was an internee, the Commissioner of Social Security shall accept the certification of the Secretary of Defense or his designee concerning any period of time for which an internee is to receive credit under paragraph (1) and shall make a decision without regard to clause (B) of paragraph (2) of this subsection unless the Commissioner has been notified by some other agency or instrumentality of the United States that, on the basis of the period for which such individual was an internee, a benefit described in clause (B) of paragraph (2) has been determined by such agency or instrumentality to be payable by it. If the Commissioner of Social Security 265 See Vol. II, Title 29. has not been so notified, the Commissioner shall then ascertain whether some other agency or wholly owned instrumentality of the United States has decided that a benefit described in clause (B) of paragraph (2) is payable by it. If any such agency or instrumentality has decided, or thereafter decides, that such a benefit is payable by it, it shall so notify the Commissioner of Social Security, and the Commissioner of Social Security shall certify no further benefits for payment or shall recompute the amount of any further benefits payable, as may be required by this section. (4) Any agency or wholly owned instrumentality of the United States which is authorized by any law of the United States to pay benefits, or has a system of benefits which are based, in whole or in part, on any period for which any individual was an internee shall, at the request of the Commissioner of Social Security, certify to the Commissioner, with respect to any individual who was an internee, such information as the Commissioner of Social Security deems necessary to carry out the Commissioner's functions under paragraph (3) of this subsection. (c) There are authorized to be appropriated to the Trust Funds and the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1978, such sums as the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary jointly determine would place the Trust Funds and the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund in the position in which they would have been if the preceding provisions of this section had not been enacted. PROCESSING OF TAX DATA 266 SEC. 232. [42 U.S.C. 432] The Secretary of the Treasury shall make available information returns filed pursuant to part III of subchapter A of chapter 61 of subtitle F of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, to the Commissioner of Social Security for the purposes of this title and title XI. The Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of the Treasury are authorized to enter into an agreement for the processing by the Commissioner of Social Security of information contained in returns filed pursuant to part III of subchapter A of chapter 61 of subtitle F of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 6103(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Secretary of the Treasury shall make available to the Commissioner of Social Security such documents as may be agreed upon as being necessary for purposes of such processing. The Commissioner of Social Security shall process any withholding tax statements or other documents made available to the Commissioner by the Secretary of the Treasury pursuant to this section. Any agreement made pursuant to this section shall remain in full force and effect until modified or otherwise changed by mutual agreement of the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of the Treasury. 266 See Vol. II, P.L. 83-591, §6103(1), with respect to disclosure of returns and return information by the Secretary of the Treasury to the Social Security Administration, and §7213(a)(1) with respect to the penalty for unauthorized disclosure of that return information. See Vol. II, P.L. 88-525, §11(e)(19), with respect to requesting and exchanging information for purposes of verifying income and eligibility for food stamps. INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS Purpose of Agreement SEC. 233. [42 U.S.C. 433] (a) The President is authorized (subject to the succeeding provisions of this section) to enter into agreements establishing totalization arrangements between the social security system established by this title and the social security system of any foreign country, for the purposes of establishing entitlement to and the amount of old-age, survivors, disability, or derivative benefits based on a combination of an individual's periods of coverage under the social security system established by this title and the social security system of such foreign country. Definitions (b) For the purposes of this section (1) the term "social security system" means, with respect to a foreign country, a social insurance or pension system which is of general application in the country and under which periodic benefits, or the actuarial equivalent thereof, are paid on account of old age, death, or disability; and (2) the term "period of coverage" means a period of payment of contributions or a period of earnings based on wages for employment or on self-employment income, or any similar period recognized as equivalent thereto under this title or under the social security system of a country which is a party to an agreement entered into under this section. Crediting Periods of Coverage; Conditions of Payment of Benefits (c)(1) Any agreement establishing a totalization arrangement pursuant to this section shall provide (A) that in the case of an individual who has at least 6 quarters of coverage as defined in section 213 of this Act and periods of coverage under the social security system of a foreign country which is a party to such agreement, periods of coverage of such individual under such social security system of such foreign country may be combined with periods of coverage under this title and otherwise considered for the purposes of establishing entitlement to and the amount of old-age, survivors, and disability insurance benefits under this title; (B)(i) that employment or self-employment, or any service which is recognized as equivalent to employment or self-employment under this title or the social security system of a foreign country which is a party to such agreement, shall, on or after the effective date of such agreement, result in a period of coverage under the system established under this title or under the system established under the laws of such foreign country, but not under both, and (ii) the methods and conditions for determining under which system employment, selfemployment, or other service shall result in a period of coverage; and (Č) that where an individual's periods of coverage are combined, the benefit amount payable under this title shall be based on the proportion of such individual's periods of coverage which was completed under this title. (2) Any such agreement may provide that an individual who is entitled to cash benefits under this title shall, notwithstanding the provisions of section 202(t), receive such benefits while he resides in a foreign country which is a party to such agreement. (3) Section 226 shall not apply in the case of any individual to whom it would not be applicable but for this section or any agreement or regulation under this section. (4) Any such agreement may contain other provisions which are not inconsistent with the other provisions of this title and which the President deems appropriate to carry out the purposes of this section. Regulations (d) The Commissioner of Social Security shall make rules and regulations and establish procedures which are reasonable and necessary to implement and administer any agreement which has been entered into in accordance with this section. Reports to Congress; Effective Date of Agreements (e)(1) Any agreement to establish a totalization arrangement entered into pursuant to this section shall be transmitted by the President to the Congress together with a report on the estimated number of individuals who will be affected by the agreement and the effect of the agreement on the estimated income and expenditures of the programs established by this Act. (2) Such an agreement shall become effective on any date, provided in the agreement, which occurs after the expiration of the period (following the date on which the agreement is transmitted in accordance with paragraph (1)) during which at least one House of the Congress has been in session on each of 60 days; except that such agreement shall not become effective if, during such period, either House of the Congress adopts a resolution of disapproval of the agreement. |