… and why they don’t have to.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
every year, more than a million taxpayers apply for an individual taxpayer identification number. these are people who, for various reasons, can’t get a social security number. these include
- resident aliens with a “green card.”
- foreign students who are allowed to earn a certain amount.
- people in foreign countries who are required to pay u.s. taxes.
- non-american spouses and other dependents of primary taxpayers who have ssns.
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delays and disaster
the itin application process is an invitation for fraud, so the irs is very careful in receiving and approving applications.
maybe too careful.
current policies for this procedure are a formula for delays and disasters.
- all itin applications must be made with paper documents. there is no digital or online option.
- applicants must send original documents, such as birth certificates and passports.
- an application can be filed only when filing a tax return.
- to arrive with a tax return, the applications necessarily arrive during the irs’s busy season.
- because an itin application must arrive with a tax return, taxpayers who need to file quarterly tax obligations can’t do so prior to their first return.
- small entrepreneurs whose prospective clients demand an itin for a 1099 can’t provide a service (or earn income or pay taxes on it) prior to their first tax return.
concerned about the problem, national taxpayer advocate erin m. collins asks us to imagine a stack of paper 3,300 feet tall, 11 times taller than the statue of liberty.
that’s what the itin processing unit in austin, texas, has to deal with each year. agents have to process the applications quickly not only so taxpayers can receive their refunds but so that applicants can get their important documents back.
the agents have no computer databases that detect forged documents or track applications and documents. the most modern tools the agents have are, according to the nta’s annual report to congress, “a magnifying glass, a black light, a commercially available guidebook on world identification documents that fraudsters can also access, construction paper, carts, folders and rubber bands.”
(unless doge has arrived with its budget-cutting scythe, they probably get an allotment of paper clips, too.)
actually, the austin agents do a pretty good job. if there are no problems, they can process an application in 7 to 11 weeks.
but inevitably there are problems.
- applications have errors or missing documents.
- transcriptions can be inaccurate.
- documents or their copies get damaged.
- documents get misplaced.
- documents get mailed to the wrong people.
- documents get mailed to old addresses.
imagine the stress on resident aliens, legally in the country, legally working and trying to legally pay their taxes – and their passports and visas disappear into the country’s largest bureaucracy.
or the stress on american workers mailing applications from, say, nigeria, laos or kazakhstan because their spouse isn’t an american citizen.
it was only in july of 2024 that the irs found a way to return documents before the application process is completed. by making photocopies (not digital copies) they could return documents within 10 days.
taxpayers have an option to send certified documents rather than originals, but this requires physical presence at a taxpayer assistance center – often hours away from home – or with a certified acceptance agent, who are present in only nine foreign countries, none of them in africa, south america or most of asia.
just to make the whole thing more painful for millions of taxpayers, if an itin isn’t used for three years, the taxpayer has to apply again.
the national taxpayer advocate says this has to stop.
some of her recommendations to the irs:
- find a way to verify government-issued documents electronically.
- develop an online tool that guides taxpayers through the itin process and verifies that documents meet requirements.
- allow applications to be filed year-round, not just during tax season.
- stop deactivating itins when not used for three years.
- modernize the real-time system to enhance data quality and management and log documents upon receipt.
- develop a system to track and quickly find original documents.
- expand caa services, especially where there are no tacs.