SSA issued an Emergency Message clarifying their policy on Protective Filing Dates.

The policy change indicates that “effective 03/12/2024, technicians will no longer create separate protective filing records (i.e., multiple protective filing records) for the same SSN if a protective filing record already exists for the same claimant and same benefit program (e.g., T2, T8, T16) and the closeout period (i.e., 6 months, 60 days) has not expired. This change will ensure that we use the correct PFD by reducing the number of records to review and eliminates unnecessary closeout letters mailed to claimants.”

SSA made this change to avoid overlapping protective filing dates and confusing closeout letters. SSA will still have a responsibility to identify and evaluate potential earlier protective filing dates previously established.

Read the full text of EM-24006 here.