How to fax Social Security, the VA and benefits agencies

Social Security: fax your local office

Social Security has no single national fax number. It says you can fax any paper form to your local office, unless the form tells you otherwise. To find the number, search Social Security’s office locator by ZIP code and open the page for your office: its contact details list a fax number alongside the phone and TTY numbers.

Forms Social Security says you can fax to your local office include:

• SSA-1696, to appoint a representative;
• SSA-827, to authorize the release of your records. The form asks for a signature in blue or black ink, and Social Security accepts a legible, ink-signed copy by fax;
• CMS-40B and CMS-L564, to enroll in Medicare Part B.

What Social Security won’t take by fax

• Original or certified documents, such as a birth certificate for a retirement claim or a Social Security number application. Social Security has to see the original, or a copy certified by the agency that issued it, and it treats a fax like an uncertified photocopy. Mail these or bring them to an office.
• A benefit application, as your signed application. In 2023 Social Security stopped accepting faxed applications. A faxed application can still set a protective filing date; Social Security then contacts you to get a valid signature.
• Forms that ask for the completed original, such as the SSA-561 request for reconsideration, which the form says to take or mail to your office. Appeals can also be filed online.

Disability Determination Services: medical evidence

Disability Determination Services (DDS) are state agencies, funded by the federal government, that gather medical evidence and make the first decision on Social Security disability claims. When a DDS or Social Security sends a request letter with a barcode, doctors and other record holders can fax the records to the number on that letter, through Social Security’s Electronic Records Express.

The barcode letter has to be the first page of the fax: that’s how the records get matched to the claim. Turn off FaxTonic’s cover page for these faxes, or it will take page one. Social Security caps these faxes at 200 pages; a FaxTonic fax can have up to 20 pages.

The VA: disability claims and other forms

The VA takes disability compensation claims and related correspondence by fax at 844-531-7818. Claimants outside the United States use 248-524-4260. Both are US numbers, which you can fax with FaxTonic wherever you are.

If you’d rather mail it, the address is Department of Veterans Affairs, Claims Intake Center, PO Box 4444, Janesville, WI 53547-4444.

Other VA fax lines:

• Board appeals (VA Form 10182): fax the form and any supporting documents to 844-678-8979.
• Pension: the correspondence instructions on VA forms list the Pension Intake Center at 844-655-1604, while the VA’s pension application page mentions only mail and online filing. If you have a letter from the VA about your pension, use the contact details it gives.

The VA’s forms say electronic submission is the fastest, and its QuickSubmit tool takes uploads. Fax is the next best thing when you can’t upload.

California EDD

For unemployment insurance, EDD accepts the paper application (DE 1101I) by fax at 1-866-215-9159, the number printed on the form. Don’t send the form’s instruction page. EDD says to allow 10 days for processing and mails your claim materials; it also says applying online through myEDD is much faster.

Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave work differently: EDD asks for those claim forms to be mailed in the envelope provided, and its Disability Insurance guide says not to send faxed forms. Supporting documents for Paid Family Leave are uploaded online, or mailed if you can’t upload them.

Other states’ unemployment agencies have their own rules and numbers: check the agency’s website or the letter it sent you.

How to send a benefits fax with FaxTonic

1. Find the number: your local office’s page in the Social Security office locator, the number on a DDS or VA letter, or one of the numbers above.
2. Scan the pages, or photograph each one flat and in good light, with every field the form asks for filled in. FaxTonic takes PDF, JPEG, and PNG files, up to 4 MB once prepared for faxing.
3. Open FaxTonic and add your file. For a local office or the VA, keep the free cover page and add your name and a phone number. For a barcode request letter, turn the cover page off.
4. Choose the United States, enter the fax number and check the total: $1.49 a page, cover page free. Then pay by card.
5. Keep your status page: it shows when the receiving machine confirmed delivery.

FaxTonic can’t receive faxes. When an agency wants to reply by fax, give it a phone number or postal address instead.