Frank Bisignano

Social Security announced a 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment for 2027, which it said would raise the average retirement benefit by $75 a month. Nearly 72 million beneficiaries see it from January 2027 and about 7.3 million SSI recipients from 31 December 2026, 76 million people in all. The taxable maximum rises to $192,300 and the earnings limit for workers under full retirement age to $25,560. The figure follows the September CPI-W, released the same morning.

Frank Bisignano said Social Security would be around for another 90 years. The statement was reported on October 12.

CNBC reported that Joseph Velli will serve as senior adviser to IRS CEO Frank Bisignano for Trump Accounts. Velli previously worked at Bank of New York and Convergex Group.

Treasury reported that over 6.5 million families had signed up for Trump Accounts. It said more than 1.5 million children were eligible for Treasury's $1,000 pilot contribution.

Treasury put Bisignano, the former Fiserv chief who serves as IRS CEO and Social Security commissioner, in charge of the program's expansion, tying account enrollment to the agencies that hold children's Social Security numbers and tax records.

Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service announced relief for certain Trump Accounts contributions. The agencies said the relief would reduce potential burden on friends and family making contributions.

The trustees moved the retirement fund's depletion to the fourth quarter of 2032, one quarter earlier, with 78 percent of benefits payable, and held the combined funds at 2034 with 83 percent payable. Reserves dropped $160 billion in 2025 to $2.56 trillion and the 75-year actuarial deficit grew from 3.82 to 4.42 percent of payroll, driven by lower fertility and immigration assumptions and the 2025 tax law. Bisignano called on lawmakers and the agency to work together. The Medicare trustees' report released the same day projected the 2027 Part B premium at $209.50.

On the anniversary of his swearing-in the agency listed an 84 percent cut in average phone wait time to 6.6 minutes, 20 percent more online transactions, 30 percent shorter field-office waits, a disability claims backlog down a third to 853,000 and hearing waits down 40 percent, alongside fraud-prevention and payment-integrity claims. Critics and the inspector general had questioned the phone metrics and the effect of staffing cuts.

Halfway through filing season the IRS said more than four million children had been enrolled via Form 4547, with elections for the pilot contribution covering more than a million, and reminded families that contributions could not start until July 4.

Benefits for 75 million people rose 2.8 percent from January 2026, the first COLA of the Bisignano era, with SSI increases from December 31. The agency noted the decade's average COLA had been about 3.1 percent, and asked people who wanted their COLA notice online only to opt out of paper by November 19. Much of the raise for Medicare enrollees would be absorbed by the Part B premium increase announced three weeks later.

Hours after Congress passed the tax and spending law, the agency issued a press release and a mass email saying nearly 90 percent of beneficiaries would no longer pay federal income tax on their benefits. The law in fact adds a temporary $6,000 deduction for taxpayers 65 and over for 2025 through 2028 and leaves benefit taxation in place; the agency posted a correction on July 7 after tax experts objected. The lost benefit-tax revenue would later show up as a quarter of the deterioration in the 2026 trustees report.

The trustees moved the depletion date of the combined retirement and disability funds to 2034, when 81 percent of scheduled benefits would be payable, and kept the retirement fund alone at 2033 with 77 percent payable. Reserves fell $67 billion in 2024 to $2.72 trillion and the program's costs have exceeded its non-interest income since 2010. Bisignano called the trust funds' financial status a top priority for the administration.

Former Fiserv chairman and CEO Frank Bisignano took over an agency that had spent early 2025 under an acting commissioner, DOGE-driven staff cuts and a plan to trim its workforce to about 50,000, promising that the administration would protect Social Security and make the agency a premier organization. Every COLA, trustees report and service change on this timeline after May 2025 is his.