When you file for Social Security benefits, you should provide Social Security with documentation that includes the date(s) of your covered employment, a statement that these covered earnings were considered in computing your pension and signed by your employer or pension-payer. Texas Teachers Retirement System (TRS) generally uses form 562 to provide this information.

If the last day of employment occurred in the prior year, you will need to provide a Form W-2 as evidence that the employment was covered under Social Security. If the last day of employment occurred in the current year, a pay slip will need to be provided. The pay slip must be dated on or after the last day that work is performed.

Social Security may contact your employer to confirm that there was a valid employment relationship with the employer for whom you worked your last day of employment.

If the documentation mentioned above is not available, or verification is needed to validate that an employee/employer relationship existed, Social Security will need to contact the employer.

NOTE: Based on the enactment of the Social Security Protection Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-203, enacted March 2, 2004), the "last day" exemption to the GPO can apply only if:  1) the last day of covered employment is before July 1, 2004; or 2) the person applied for the Social Security spouse’s or surviving spouse’s benefit before April 1, 2004.

For more details on this change in the law, see the question on the Social Security Protection Act of 2004. This law generally replaced the "last day" exemption to the GPO with a requirement that the person work in a position covered by Social Security for the last 60 months of government employment prior to retirement.