Once your Social Security card arrives, transferring earnings from an ITIN to an SSN takes three coordinated moves: write to the IRS so it voids the ITIN and merges your tax history under the new number, give your employer the card so payroll and W-2s get corrected, and work with the Social Security Administration to pull any wages sitting in its Earnings Suspense File onto your new earnings record. Skip any one of these and you can lose credit for taxes you already paid or years of wages you already worked.
Notify the IRS to Merge Your ITIN Into Your SSN
You cannot hold both an ITIN and an SSN at the same time. Once the SSN is issued, stop using the ITIN on any tax document and tell the IRS to combine the records.1Internal Revenue Service. Additional ITIN Information Without that notice, the IRS treats the ITIN filer and the SSN filer as two different people, and prior payments may not follow you.
You can walk the request into a local IRS office or mail a letter to:
Internal Revenue Service
Austin, TX 73301-0057
Include your full legal name, current mailing address, your ITIN, and a copy of the new Social Security card. If you kept the CP 565 notice the IRS sent when the ITIN was first assigned, include a copy of that as well.1Internal Revenue Service. Additional ITIN Information Once the request is processed, the IRS voids the ITIN and links every return, payment, and credit filed under it to your SSN.
Update Your Employer and Get a W-2c
Your employer still has the old number on file. Bring the Social Security card to HR or payroll and ask them to update your record immediately. If a W-2 has already been issued for the current year, or any prior year, under the old number, the employer is required to file Form W-2c (Corrected Wage and Tax Statement) to fix it.2Social Security Administration. Employer W-2 Filing Instructions and Information
Confirm in writing that the correction will be filed, and get a copy of the W-2c when it’s issued. A corrected W-2 is what allows the IRS and the SSA to line up your wages with your new SSN. If the employer will not cooperate, contact the SSA directly with other proof of what you earned, such as pay stubs or the tax returns you filed under the ITIN.
Recover Wages From the Earnings Suspense File
When wages get reported to the SSA and the name and number do not match its records, the earnings go into what the SSA calls the Earnings Suspense File. Workers paid under an ITIN or a mismatched number are a large part of it. As of 2021 the file held more than 381 million uncredited wage items.3Social Security Administration. Earnings Reported Without a Social Security Number or With an Incorrect Employee Name or Social Security Number Your past earnings may be there right now, credited to no one.
Once you give the SSA your corrected identifying information, those suspended wages can be reinstated to your record. The agency uses automated matching and manual review to complete the transfer.4Social Security Administration. Earnings Record Correction Process Bring as much documentation as you can find: W-2s, pay stubs, tax returns filed under the ITIN, and any employer statements confirming the wages.
The stakes are concrete. You need 40 credits to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits, and in 2026 you earn one credit for every $1,890 in covered earnings, up to four credits per year.5Social Security Administration. Benefits Planner – Social Security Credits and Benefit Eligibility Every uncredited year is a year that doesn’t count toward those 40.
Amend Prior Returns Where It Pays Off
After the IRS combines your records, look back at your ITIN-era returns for errors or credits you couldn’t claim before. You correct a prior year by filing Form 1040-X (Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return) for that year.6Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
The window to claim a refund on an amended return is three years from the original filing date or two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6511 – Limitations on Credit or Refund Outside that window, you generally cannot recover a refund for the year in question. Current IRS processing runs 8 to 12 weeks for amended returns, with some taking up to 16 weeks.8Internal Revenue Service. Where’s My Amended Return?
Child Tax Credit
The Child Tax Credit requires the child to have an SSN, but the filing parent can use either an SSN or an ITIN. If your child previously had only an ITIN and has since received an SSN, you may be able to amend prior returns to claim the credit retroactively, as long as you are still within the three-year amendment window.9Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit
Earned Income Tax Credit Cannot Be Claimed Retroactively
This is the rule that catches people. The EITC requires a valid SSN for the taxpayer, the spouse on a joint return, and any qualifying child. The PATH Act of 2015 also requires that the SSN be issued on or before the due date of the return (including extensions) for that tax year.10Internal Revenue Service. Basic Qualifications So if your SSN is issued in 2026, you can claim the EITC on your 2026 return, but you cannot amend 2024 or 2025 to pick it up for those years, even though the amendment window is technically open. Do not plan around a retroactive EITC; it isn’t available.11Internal Revenue Service. Who Qualifies for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
Verify Both Sides After the Transfer
Give the process a few months, then check the results yourself. Do not assume the letter to Austin and the visit to HR closed the loop.
On the SSA side, create a my Social Security account at ssa.gov/myaccount and open your earnings statement. It lists posted earnings year by year, so gaps from your ITIN period are easy to spot. If wages are missing, gather the W-2s, returns, and pay stubs for those years and contact the SSA to open a correction.12Social Security Administration. How to Correct Your Social Security Earnings Record
On the IRS side, request a tax account transcript for the years you filed under the ITIN. If those returns don’t appear under your SSN, the merge hasn’t posted yet, and you should follow up.
Fixing Mismatches and Penalty Exposure
Small discrepancies are common in this transition. Names may have been transliterated differently across immigration documents, tax forms, and payroll. Employers may have reported wages under a slightly different spelling or under the wrong number. Any of these can slow the transfer of your earnings or generate IRS notices.
Line up your tax returns, W-2s, and SSA earnings statement side by side and note any inconsistencies. Take name or number issues on the tax side to the IRS and earnings-record issues to the SSA. Make sure your legal name matches across your Social Security card, tax filings, and employer records before asking either agency to correct downstream entries.
If problems from the ITIN period produced penalties, you can ask the IRS for penalty abatement based on reasonable cause. The IRS looks at the full facts of your situation, and documentation showing the error stemmed from the ITIN-to-SSN transition rather than intentional noncompliance helps.13Internal Revenue Service. Penalty Relief for Reasonable Cause Two penalties turn up most often in these cases: failure-to-file or failure-to-pay penalties, which run 5% per month for not filing or 0.5% per month for not paying, capped at 25% of the unpaid amount,14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6651 – Failure to File Tax Return or to Pay Tax and the accuracy-related penalty of 20% on a substantial understatement of income.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6662 – Imposition of Accuracy-Related Penalty on Underpayments
When to Bring In a Professional
The IRS notification letter and the employer update are usually manageable on your own. Paid help earns its fee when the situation is heavier: several years of unfiled or incorrectly filed returns, big gaps between what the IRS and SSA show for the same years, open penalties, or immigration status still in motion. A tax professional can decide which prior-year returns are worth amending and keep your amendments consistent so you don’t invite an audit. Preparation fees for an amended return typically run $50 to $300.