The Tampa Social Security Offices: West Hillsborough Avenue, Carrollwood and Seffner

Which Social Security office serves a Tampa ZIP code?

It depends on which part of the county you live in. Social Security's office locator assigns each ZIP code it lists to one field office, and most of Hillsborough County is divided among three; Odessa (33556), which straddles the Pasco County line, goes to New Port Richey. Not every ZIP code is listed, and assignments can change, so enter your address in the locator rather than going by the city in your mailing address.

The names can mislead. The Tampa office sits on West Hillsborough Avenue in ZIP code 33634, but the locator sends 33634, 33635 and 33615 to Carrollwood, while the Tampa office takes downtown, South Tampa, the Westshore area and the South Shore communities from Riverview to Sun City Center. The office the locator names handles the non-medical side of your claim and can answer questions about that part of a pending claim before it reaches a hearing office. You can apply online, by phone or at a field office.

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Addresses, Phone Numbers and Mail for the Three Offices

The locator lists all three as open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed on weekends. Hours and closures can change, so check the office's own locator page before you go; the offices' notes encourage scheduling an appointment first.

• Tampa: 7012 W. Hillsborough Avenue, Tampa, FL 33634. Phone 1-866-331-2317, fax 1-833-579-0465.

• Carrollwood: 10050 N. Florida Avenue, Tampa, FL 33612, on the west side of Florida Avenue north of Linebaugh Avenue. Phone 1-855-433-5873, fax 1-833-921-1896.

• East Hillsborough: 2027 S. Parsons Avenue, Seffner, FL 33584. Phone 1-866-593-8721, fax 1-833-950-2532.

Carrollwood lists its street address for mail. The Tampa and East Hillsborough offices do not: the locator gives each a Kansas City, Missouri mailing address with its office code, Social Security, NRC / FO 656 (Tampa) or 266 (East Hillsborough), PO Box 416000, Kansas City, MO 64141. When you answer a notice, use the return address printed on it. The national number, 1-800-772-1213, can also schedule a phone or in-person appointment.

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What the field office handles and what Florida's disability division decides

The field office checks the eligibility points that have nothing to do with your health, such as age, employment, marital status and Social Security coverage, then sends the case on for the medical decision, as Social Security's page on the disability determination process describes. The state agency usually asks your own doctors and clinics for records first and can schedule a consultative examination when they are unavailable or not enough.

In Florida that agency is the Division of Disability Determinations in the Florida Department of Health. It makes the medical decision, not the non-medical one, on Social Security disability and SSI claims and on claims under Florida's Medically Needy program, and it also conducts the periodic continuing disability reviews of people already receiving benefits.

Reconsideration, the first appeal after a denial, generally must be requested within 60 days after you receive the denial notice (Social Security assumes you received it 5 days after the date on it unless you show otherwise), online, by phone, by mail or in person, and when the denial was medical the review goes back to the division. A hearing request after a reconsideration denial moves the case to a hearing office.

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Which hearing office takes a Tampa disability appeal

All three Hillsborough offices are on the list of the Tampa hearing office, at Fountain Square II, Suite 200, 4925 Independence Parkway, Tampa, FL 33634, phone 1-855-248-0239. The hearing office list behind Social Security's hearing office locator, Appendix F of the agency's privacy notice for hearing records and the offices' locator records agree on that, and all three list the Dade City office under it too, along with Lakeland, Winter Haven and Sebring.

Pinellas County, western Pasco County and the Odessa ZIP code are different. The Clearwater, St. Petersburg and New Port Richey field offices are on the list of the St. Petersburg hearing office, at Suite 200, 830 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, phone 1-877-452-4193, in all three sources.

Social Security's operations manual says hearing office jurisdiction is set by the claimant's residence address. To ask for a different hearing office, give a signed statement of your reasons with your hearing request, which a field office forwards to the hearing office, and Social Security decides whether to transfer the case. A hearing can be in person, by agency video at a Social Security site, by phone, or by online video if you agree to it. You can object in writing to a phone or agency video hearing within 30 days after you receive the notice of the ways you can attend, or later if you show good cause. Social Security can still schedule a phone hearing over an objection in limited circumstances. The Notice of Hearing names the office and the format. Separately, Social Security's hearings manual lets management move a batch of cases to another hearing office to relieve a temporary workload imbalance or increase productivity, and the office that receives the cases notifies you and any representative you have. Our Tampa disability lawyer page covers the hearing office in more detail, and our hearing office directory lists the rest.

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Pasco and Pinellas: Dade City, New Port Richey, Clearwater and St. Petersburg

• Dade City, 36630 Adair Road, Dade City, FL 33525: 33523 and 33525 (Dade City), 33540 to 33542 (Zephyrhills), 33543 to 33545 (Wesley Chapel) and 34638 and 34639 (Land O' Lakes). Open weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1-866-562-1325. Tampa hearing office list.

• New Port Richey, Suite 102, 7601 Little Road, New Port Richey, FL 34654: 34652 to 34655 (New Port Richey), 34668 (Port Richey), 34667 (Hudson) and 33556 (Odessa). Open weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1-866-593-5679. St. Petersburg hearing office list.

• Clearwater, 2340 Drew Street, Clearwater, FL 33765: 33755, 33756, 33759 to 33761, 33763 to 33765 (Clearwater), 34698 (Dunedin), 34683 to 34685 (Palm Harbor), 34688 and 34689 (Tarpon Springs), 34677 (Oldsmar) and 33770, 33771 and 33773 (Largo). Open weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1-888-397-5325. St. Petersburg hearing office list.

• St. Petersburg, 30 Dr. MLK Jr. Street S., St. Petersburg, FL 33701: 33701 to 33705, 33707, 33709 to 33714 and 33716 (St. Petersburg), 33781 and 33782 (Pinellas Park), 33772, 33776 and 33777 (Seminole) and 33774 (Largo). Open weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1-866-613-3965. St. Petersburg hearing office list.

Odessa ZIP code 33556, which straddles the Hillsborough and Pasco county line northwest of Tampa, is the one Hillsborough County ZIP code listed on this page that the locator sends outside the Tampa hearing office list. It goes to the New Port Richey field office, which is on the St. Petersburg hearing office list. Neighboring Lutz goes to the Carrollwood field office, and the Wesley Chapel and Land O' Lakes ZIP codes listed above go to the Dade City field office. Carrollwood and Dade City are both on the Tampa hearing office list. Our Florida disability lawyer page maps the rest of the state's hearing offices.

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