Social Security numbers on checks.

[Armando Beaujolais]

The IRS says to do it, all the states say to do it, and I tell my clients "DON'T DO IT!"

With identity theft being the every-increasing, potentially catastrophic problem that it is, is that really a good idea to put your social security number on a tax check? Right there along with your name and address, and in some cases your drivers license number? Quite frankly it seems irresponsible to me for government agencies to be instructing people to do this.

If the IRS and state revenue departments can keep all that information secure, that's great. And if that's what I was worried about, I wouldn't worry about it. But you have not only the revenue personnel viewing that information, you have lots of people along the way who handle your check that can view that information.

I also don't list my credit card number on the check I send to the credit card company. Of course I don't care if the credit card company knows my credit card number, I suppose in some ways they should have that information. I just don't like the idea of knowing that anyone involved in processing that check has a smorgasboard of personal and credit information.

What's folks think? Am I being paranoid?

[DTS]

You are not being paranoid

Armando,

As of two years ago, I stopped doing this due to the reasons you state. Any person on an IRS computer program can find the SS by the name that's on the check, etc.

My wife does put the account number on our credit card check, but forgot to yesterday. She was about to rip the envelope open and I told her to leave it be and explained why. Of course, if something happens down the road and we get a statement saying the bill has not been paid, I'm in deep ka-ka.

Dennis

[Gretel]

Security

Armando, I agree with you. I really like that my state uses their own account numbers instead of SS or FEIN.

How in the world would the IRS know where to apply your payment? If the coupon is with the check the problem remains.

I really would like the IRS to use some of their personnel (less available for audits) to find the taxpayer by name rather than account number. It's doable, I think.

[Armando Beaujolais]

Armando, I agree with you. I really like that my state uses their own account numbers instead of SS or FEIN.

How in the world would the IRS know where to apply your payment? If the coupon is with the check the problem remains.

I really would like the IRS to use some of their personnel (less available for audits) to find the taxpayer by name rather than account number. It's doable, I think.

I know the dangers of not putting the numbers on the payment. I look at it as a trade off.

If something bad's going to happen, I'd rather straighten out a mis-routed payment to the IRS or to the credit card company than straighten things out if my identity was stolen.

I've never had a problem with an IRS payment or with a credit card payment that didn't have those numbers. Of course "It's never happened to me" is an incredibly weak argument. However, I know they can process those fine without the numbers. I would assume that the posting is done at the time the return is opened. Having the number on there is a secondary fail-safe in case someone opens the window on a windy day.

[Bees Knees]

The employee opening the envelope and processing the check can also see the payment voucher that has the Social Security number printed right on the front. If you are worried about identity theft, leaving the SSN off the check will do nothing to prevent that. Even the bank people processing the check have your SSN.

All you are doing is making it more difficult to track your payment should the check get separated from the payment voucher before the key puncher has a chance to enter it into their system.

[Chief]

ID on Checks

I agree. Why does IRS ask us to put ssn's on our checks? SSN 's are not to be used for ID purposes.

I encourage my clients to use electronic payments and this is another reason to.

When writing checks for credit card payments I usually write in the memo ----- and then the last two groups of numbers. No one has ever complained.

I would not let anyone write my driver's lic number on the front of one of my checks.

[Armando Beaujolais]

The employee opening the envelope and processing the check can also see the payment voucher that has the Social Security number printed right on the front. If you are worried about identity theft, leaving the SSN off the check will do nothing to prevent that. Even the bank people processing the check have your SSN.

All you are doing is making it more difficult to track your payment should the check get separated from the payment voucher before the key puncher has a chance to enter it into their system.

As I said, if it was only the IRS, it would be a different story. There are a string of people who handle every check you write.

Will the bank people processing my check have my social security number? I doubt that. Banks have better safeguards than letting every employee who handles anything have access to all the information they want about their customers.

[Gene V]

SS# on check

The IRS says to do it, all the states say to do it, and I tell my clients "DON'T DO IT!"

I tell my client to write the last 4 digit of there SS# on there check, this way if the IRS looses the payment voucher, they will have something to go on.

[Roberts]

Odds

The odds of someone at the check processing plant actually taking the time to look at your check for more than 1-2 seconds is extremely slim. Then to actually chose your client's check to pull out and give a more thorough look and then steal the information... VERY slim odds. If someone wanted to steal the information I would think there would be much better ways of doing it with much less risk on their behalf.

I would guess the IRS processes checks for deposit much the same way credit card companies do. Your check gets credited to the account within the firm and then is sent to the bank and through a processing plant. Each check is scanned and filed without anyone actually looking at the check. Then the checks are stored away because they no longer have to deliver the checks to the issue bank for credit.

My guess would be that the post office would be 10x to 20x more likely that they would lose your return and it end up in the wrong place than for someone at the bank to steal your ID.

[Gretel]

Thiefs are everywhere

I disagree that it's less likely to have an employee at the IRS steal your identity than any place else. People who want to cheat find their ways into all positions. The IRS is not holier than any other place.

I really like the idea to just put the last four digits on the checks. I do this on my credit card statements since quite a while but it never occured to me to do the same thing with the IRS.

[Bird Legs]

Identity Theft

Maybe I am missing something here. Just the last 4 digits of your SSN or ACCT. No.
on check? With that check is a voucher. If that voucher is from the IRS then your
full SSN is on it. If it is from a credit card company then the full account no. is on it.
So whoever is processing that check has knowlegde of the ID #.
If the check is stolen from the mail box, the voucher is in the envelope. The thief has
that info.

[OldJack]

Its their job.

I agree with Bird Legs..I never do it on any of my checks. I don't advise my clients anything about putting their number on the check. Why should I its not my problem and its not my job. Its not my clients problem either. It is up to the people that receive the payment to know what to do with it when they have a coupon... thats their job.

[Gene V]

check

I don't advise my clients anything about putting their number on the check. Why should I its not my problem and its not my job.

I just highlight the information on the Payment Voucher for my client, most of my client are elderly and get confuse on what to do. I highlight that they should write 2005 Form 1040 on there check and there SS#, most don’t like writing there SS# on the check, so I tell them to just write the last 4 digit, this seem to make them a little at ease. I also highlight that they make the check Payable to the “United States Treasury” a lot of them still makes the check out to IRS. (Not that it madders much-IRS will cash it anyway-probably to whomever it is made out to).

I do stress that they write 2005 Form 1040 (or whatever tax year they are paying) on there check more then there SS#. Have had many client send in there check without the payment voucher and the money was credit to estimate payment for next year

[OldJack]

Cashing the check.

I also highlight that they make the check Payable to the “United States Treasury” a lot of them still makes the check out to IRS. (Not that it madders much-IRS will cash it anyway-probably to whomever it is made out to).

I had a client a few years ago send a copy (front and back cut to size) of her CANCELED check to the IRS to prove that payment had been made. You guessed it.. the IRS deposited the copy machine check and the bank paid them charging the taxpayer. It took more than a year to get it straight with the IRS and get a refund. Ha!

[Gretel]

Ha!

I had a client a few years ago send a copy (front and back cut to size) of her CANCELED check to the IRS to prove that payment had been made. You guessed it.. the IRS deposited the copy machine check and the bank paid them charging the taxpayer. It took more than a year to get it straight with the IRS and get a refund. Ha!

Seems, I haven been mistaken thinking the IRS is not holier than anyone else. Which other company could bring a copy of a check to the bank and it's run through?