Social Security now charges $75 to copy an electronic folder, $151 for a paper folder and $22 for a Numident record, the computer extract of a Social Security card application. The fees apply to requests the agency receives on or after October 1, 2026, under a notice published September 21 in the Federal Register. The same notice keeps one route free: uncertified yearly earnings totals.
The three charges that apply to requests from October 1
The notice, signed by SSA General Counsel Mark Steffensen, updates the agency’s schedule of standard fees for non-program information. That means records requested for any purpose not directly related to administering Social Security programs. Copying an electronic folder is $75, and copying a paper folder is $151.
A copy of a Numident record is $22. The Numident is the computer extract of the Form SS-5, the application for a Social Security card. The notice does not define the folders, and a footnote says fees may differ depending on the fee authority involved and on the work required.
The first question for most beneficiaries is whether asking for earnings information now costs money. It depends on the document. The new charges attach to folder copies and Numident records, while uncertified yearly earnings totals stay free.
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What Social Security says still costs nothing
The notice is explicit. “A requester can continue to obtain non-certified yearly earnings totals using Form SSA-7004,” it says, and it adds that online Social Security Statements display uncertified yearly earnings free of charge.
The quick route is a my Social Security account. SSA says the account lets a user review earnings for accuracy and get the Social Security Statement. Sign-in runs through Login.gov, which needs an email address, a government-issued photo ID and a phone number, or through ID.me, which needs an email address, a photo ID and a device with a camera.
The paper route is Form SSA-7004, the request for a Social Security Statement. It goes by mail to the Wilkes Barre Direct Operations Center, P.O. Box 7004, Wilkes Barre, PA 18767-7004. SSA says it will send an earnings history, an estimate of Social Security taxes paid and benefit estimates within four to six weeks, and the form lists no fee.
The free route has a limit. Online statements show yearly totals but no employer information. Earnings broken out by employer come through Form SSA-7050, the detailed yearly earnings request, which carries its own charge in the same schedule, and certifying that information adds $30.
Other fees in the schedule and how payment works
The schedule lists several other items. A Field Operations Headquarters certification is $65 for requests received in a field office, regional office or headquarters component, and a Central Processing certification is $30. A record extract is $46 when the request is received and processed in a field office.
Payment is due in advance and is nonrefundable. SSA accepts a check, money order or credit card, does not accept cash, and allows only one form of payment for the full fee on each request.
The notice describes no waiver for the standard fees. A footnote says a public-interest fee waiver under 20 CFR 402.85 may be sought for requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, but it also says that law does not apply to SSA’s fee determinations under Section 1106(c) of the Social Security Act. Requests outside the schedule are still charged case by case.
SSA says the amounts are “based on the most recent cost analysis,” though the notice does not publish that analysis. The agency cites Section 1106 of the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act, and says it may require a requester to pay the full cost when the request is not directly related to administering its programs.
SSA also says it must review standard fees at least every two years under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-25. The previous schedules were published August 22, 2012 and August 23, 2024, so this update follows the August 2024 version by about two years.
Weighing a $75 or $151 request against the free totals
The gap between the two folder prices is $76, the amount a paper copy costs above an electronic one. Because the fee is paid up front and cannot be refunded, a request for the wrong document is a sunk cost. The Numident copy, at $22, is the smallest of the three charges.
A copy of the original SS-5 form is priced as a separate item from the Numident extract. A requester who wants only to see what the agency has on record for the card application has to pick between the two before paying.
SSA describes the account as a way to review earnings for accuracy, and the yearly totals there cost nothing. A mismatch in a yearly total is the point at which the employer-level detail, and its separate charge, comes into play.
The notice names no charge for the free route. The open question for anyone staring at a record that looks wrong is whether the yearly totals answer it or whether the detail behind them is worth paying for.
Need an SSA record the free earnings totals cannot supply?
Record fees are paid in advance and cannot be refunded, so a request for the wrong document costs $75, $151 or $22 with nothing back. The fee story is about records, but the payment those records support is what a beneficiary cannot afford to have go wrong.
The Social Security Check Protection Kit turns to that payment. It includes the 2026 payment calendar and a first-24-hours plan for a late or missing payment, and Part 8 collects worksheets, contacts and a deadline calendar. The calendar shows when each month’s payment is due to arrive.
Get the payment calendar and late-payment plan in the check protection kit →
More Financial Reading
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
