SSS intensifies crackdown on erring employers

State-run Social Security System (SSS) has intensified its crackdown against 7,000 delinquent employers in its bid to collect P5 billion in additional contributions.

SSS president and CEO Emmanuel Dooc said the state fund has intensified its campaign against erring employers with the issuance of Warrants of Distraint, Levy and Garnishment (WDLG) to companies that fail to remit contributions.

“This year, we will launch what we call the Warrant of Distraint, Levy and Garnishment. This is similar to the policy of the BIR in collecting taxes. (We will issue this) to stringently implement the collection of contributions from delinquent employers,” Dooc said in a press briefing.

“Initially, we have already identified some 7,000 delinquent companies, big and small, all over the country. They will be the first ones we will visit. We will invite them and send them a notice,” he added.

Under the new policy, the SSS will issue a Letter of Authority and Preliminary Assessment Notice, containing the total delinquency contributions of said employers. After 15 days, a Final Assessment Notice Before Seizure (FANS) will be sent to the employer with an instruction to pay the amount stated.

If an employer does not agree with the FANS issued by the SSS, he or she must file a protest in the form of a Request for Reconsideration within 15 days, or a Request for Reconciliation within 30 days from the date of receipt of the notice.

Failure to protest or settle the unpaid contributions will lead to the issuance of the WDLG against the employer, Dooc said.

With the WDLG, the state pension fund will be able to seize the properties or garnish the bank accounts of erring employers as payment for their delinquencies.

Dooc said SSS is beefing up its legal enforcement and accounting teams in preparation for this campaign.

“We are already conducting trainings for the personnel who will undertake this. We have hired legal enforcement officers and sheriff who will serve the notices and corresponding warrants,” he said.

Dooc said this is also the first time SSS would conduct such massive campaign armed with the Warrant of Distraint, Levy and Garnishment, which he said is already under Section 22 of the Social Security Act of 1997.

“For the first time, this commission and this present management have decided to implement it. We have laid out the procedures and it was approved (by the President),” the SSS chief said.

He said the new policy would help the state fund raise more revenues and improve compliance from employers, adding that the initial target for the campaign is to collect P5 billion in delinquency contributions.

Overall, the SSS said there are about 60,000 delinquent employers in the country. Total delinquencies from employers, meanwhile, is estimated at P13.5 billion.

In 2017, the SSS reported a net income of P20.3 billion, 36.56 percent down from the P32 billion it posted the previous year amid rising expenditures brought about by higher pension benefits.