Green card & Social Security card

[manyhappyreturns]

I prepared a tax return for a hispanic couple and it was rejected because the SSN and name do not match. TP is a permanent resident according to the green card he presented and he also presented his Soc Sec card, which looked official to me. His wife is a US citizen and was born and raised here. He has 2 last names, so I tried filing using the 2 names, then tried each name individually, and it was rejected all 3 times. Not sure what all of this means. I live in a small town up in the mountains in California and I have very few hispanic clients, and all of them so far have lived in the states all their lives and are citizens. This is the first time I've actually ever seen a green card.

All this to say, I have no clue how to tell if a green card or Soc Sec card is fake, and I have no clue what a person has to do to qualify for either one. The fact that their tax return was rejected with all possible combinations of names makes me think maybe that's all the evidence I need to believe he obtained his SSN illegally and to tell them they cannot "collect" taxes using that number (I say "collect" because they were going to get a huge refund due to CTC & EIC, and that's what the spouse was calling it!). .

TPs do not have a phone, so I can't call them and I won't be in the office regularly now, but if they show up at my door when I am there, I want to ask them just how they obtained that SSN. He was supposed to come back on pay day, which was 3 weeks ago, to bring me the remainder of my fees, but he didn't show up. I'm thinking I should just tell them to forget the whole thing and go get legal.

Any light anyone could shed on this situation would be helpful!

[AZUKHiker]

Paper File

Provided you are comfortable with the due diligence you did when completing the EIC claim as well as the rest of the return, you will need to paper file and mail in the return.

A name/SSN mismatch does not automatically mean fraud so provided you are comfortable that what you saw was a valid Green Card and SSN card I would proceed with mailing in the return.
Also what due diligence did you do for claiming the EIC with children, i.e. evidence that the children lived with the parents? Given that the return has bounced I would want to make sure I am well covered with the EIC due diligence before filing the return.

If you have never seen a green card before check online for examples. Mine has loads of holograms etc on it so unless it is a sophisticated forgery you would probably spot a forged one.

Based on the fact they have no phone number and didn't come back when expected you may need to put this one down to experience. :-(
Next time get the fee fully paid before filing.

[Gretel]

Based on the fact they have no phone number and didn't come back when expected you may need to put this one down to experience. :-(
Next time get the fee fully paid before filing.

Well, a paper filed tax return needs to be signed. I would write them a letter and explain the situation and whatever else you need to do with this mismatch. If they do not pay you you do not give them the tax return. Maybe someone stole the identity. You better be sure before you accuse them. I think I would call SS while they are in my office.

AUKHiker, what country are you from? I am from Germany (hard to guess with my name) and my son and I won a green card in the lottery in the 90's.

[manyhappyreturns]

Thanks for your responses. I really don't feel comfortable with the whole green card/SS card thing, especially with such a large refund involved, so if and when they come back wondering why their huge check never came, I'm going to suggest they go somewhere else. If it had gone through, okay, but the non-matching thing is enough to make me suspect fake ID, and I really don't have experience checking the validity of green cards or SS cards. I'm not going to accuse them, though, because I know there are people out there who provide fake ID for a fee and convince the recipients that it's perfectly legal. These people seemed quite genuine, although I'll have to admit that I've been fooled in the past . . .

[Burke]

The state chapter of NATP-VA had ICE come in for one of our conferences and give a seminar on the green card thing. Passed around copies and asked if we could tell the good ones from the bad ones. Then pointed out all the inconsistencies on the fakes. Very interesting workshop if you have such an organization and you are near a govt office.

[Gary2]

In general, if you haven't been paid, you don't have an obligation to e-file the return (unless you contracted otherwise). But having filed the return, as far as I know, you're now obligated to inform them that the return was rejected. Since they didn't give you a contact phone number, you'll have to send them a letter.

[AZUKHiker]

From the Uk

AUKHiker, what country are you from? I am from Germany (hard to guess with my name) and my son and I won a green card in the lottery in the 90's.

The clue is in my Forum name :-)

I'm from the UK. Married to a US lady so came through the easy route for a green card. Been here since late 2008.

[Gretel]

The clue is in my Forum name :-)

I'm from the UK. Married to a US lady so came through the "easy route" for a green card. Been here since late 2008.

Thanks, almost the same time I came. That's news to me that being married is "easy". I believe any good marriage is hard work.

[AZUKHiker]

Thanks, almost the same time I came. That's news to me that being married is "easy". I believe any good marriage is hard work.

Agreed. :-)

[manyhappyreturns]

Saw clients today

Clients called today while I just happened to be in the office for the 1st time in over a week. I told them the efile didn't go through, so I took another look at is SS card and asked them how they obtained it. They said they got it through her sister who said she knew how to get an SS# that is valid for work. He has a green card that says "Permanent Resident" written on it. I compared the SS# and the name on both cards with what I efiled and it matched, so we called IRS and the wait time was 60 min, so gave up on that. Then while I was looking up the phone # for e-services to try there, my clients were chattering to each other in Spanish and I happen to know enough Spanish to figure out that they were arguing about whether or not they should tell me something. So I asked, "Okay, so what is it that you're not telling me?" and he said, "The card is fake. I'm not legal." Hoo boy! At least now I know. That SS card looked and felt genuine. Whoever makes them did a good job.

Needless to say, I won't be filing their tax return. I printed out a W-7 application and instructions for them. Spouse is a US citizen, so I told them they should apply for an ITIN and file a return with her as primary TP. I hope I'm right about that. I need to review the rules about non-citizens.

[Gary2]

Needless to say, I won't be filing their tax return. I printed out a W-7 application and instructions for them. Spouse is a US citizen, so I told them they should apply for an ITIN and file a return with her as primary TP. I hope I'm right about that. I need to review the rules about non-citizens.

Seems like a good suggestion. More likely than not, the TP will qualify as a resident alien under the substantial presence test, and thus a joint return would be appropriate. They'll need the return to apply for the ITIN.

[manyhappyreturns]

Yeah, I told her when she got the application filled out and got the documents together to call me back and I'll print out the return to send with it. I told her it will take weeks or many even months for it to go through, and they can't claim EIC, so she was not a happy girl. Funny, they lied to me and tried using me to get a large amount of money from the government illegally, but I still feel like I really want to help them. They have 5 kids and are staying temporarily in her sister's 2 bedroom apt, and her sister wants them OUT, so they are in a bad position. Oh, yeah, and TP lost his job, or so they say, which was why she said he didn't come by to pay the rest of their fees. She said he's been out every day looking for another job. Not sure if I can believe anything they say, but I still want to help them, probably mainly because this must be hard on the kids and none of this is their fault.