If you like suspense, it might be coming your way from a movie, a TV series or a novel.

But for some real-life suspense, you might want to check out a relatively unknown item in the Social Security Administration. It’s called the “earnings suspense file,” (ESF) and you don’t have to wait for a dark and stormy night to learn more about it.

Here’s what makes this file so suspenseful.

1. What is it?

When workers are paid, part of the money we earn is withheld by our employers for future Social Security, Medicare and other benefits – usually noted as “FICA” on the pay stub. The employer is required by law to deposit these funds into the U.S. Treasury’s Social Security trust fund. There are two accounts in the fund: Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (paying retirement and survivor benefits) and Disability Insurance.

The employer reports the wages to the Social Security Administration by filing a W-2. Using this process, our salary history or “earnings record” is maintained by the SSA so when we retire, the amount of our benefit can be calculated.

Occasionally, when an employer submits a W-2, the employee’s name doesn’t match the social security number on file at the SSA. When this happens, the wages reported on the W-2 can’t be credited to any known individual so they are put into an SSA file called the “earnings suspense file,” or “suspense file” for short.

2. How many entries are in it?

Did I say occasionally? That might be a bit of an understatement.

By 2017, experts were estimating that the suspense file held $1.4 trillion in wages that had been reported but didn’t match any SSA records. That’s almost as much as the total student loan debt in the U.S. ($1.56 trillion according to Lending Tree.) The file was started in 1936 and by 2003 there were 255 million W-2’s in the suspense file. 

Some of the reasons given by the SSA for the entries in the suspense file are compound surnames, incorrectly written social security numbers and forgetting to notify SSA if there is a name change after marriage. But it’s also believed that a significant number of workers with wages in the suspense file are those who are working without legal status in this country.

3. The suspense (and the money) builds

So, it’s only reported wages and not real money, right?

While $1.4 trillion is the estimated total earnings reported from W-2’s, over the years, employers made regular deposits into the SSA trust funds for withholding taxes on those earnings.  That total amount is not easily found and that’s where things become really suspenseful.

In 2013, Business Insider calculated that payments made into the trust funds based on wage reports in the earnings suspense file were $138 billion for Social Security and $33 billion for Medicare. Keep in mind that these funds may never make their way back to their intended recipients because the reasons that made them differ from the SSA’s records may never be corrected.

Current projections estimate that the social security trust funds will run out of money by 2034. Who knows how much of the money currently supplementing social security retirement benefits is coming from deposits made for suspense file W-2’s?

4. Can this hurt me?

It can if any of your information winds up in the ESF. The government uses an average of the top 35 years of earnings when it calculates your retirement benefit. If some of that information is missing – sitting in the suspense file and not in your file – it can result in a lower benefit.

You will receive a paper statement from the SSA showing your earnings when you turn 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and every year after the age of 60. But you can view your statement at any time by setting up an account online at: https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount/

Carefully check your statements to make sure that there are no earnings missing from your employment history. If there are, you have a specific time limit to correct the record with SSA: “Up to three years, three months, and 15 days after the year in which the wages were paid or the self-employment income was derived.” 

If you find an error, don’t panic. There are exceptions to this time limit for instances like fraud, clerical errors or other situations.

But it’s a good idea to check every year, just to be sure that the suspense in your life is coming from entertainment you choose and not from your retirement benefits!