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Trouble with IRS verifying me


NECPA in NEBRASKA

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I have had so much trouble with the IRS verifying my identity. I am pretty sure that I finalized the process last year when they said to do it. Everything went through and there didn't seem to be any questions online. During tax season, something seemed to get messed up somewhere and suddenly I was not in the system. I have called and called. The last time the man was super helpful and said that I would be receiving a letter with a new number to identify me and that never showed up. Today I get a 5122A letter telling me to verify my professional status in New York. They have the correct PTIN and name, but the wrong state. I admit that I went there to see the Christmas lights, but I have never even prepared a New York return. I remember years ago having a problem with another CPA having my name, but I thought that was my maiden name and I acutally use Bonita, (which I hate) with my PTIN and permit. 

I have a call into the contact on the letter, but if it runs like everything else, they will never call me back. Has anyone else had a problem with this identity issue? I have a client trying to get their deceased mother's 2015 refund back and I can't even help him unless I go with him. I always that that my name was so weird that no one else would have it. 

Thanks!

Bonnie

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Welcome to the club! I've been trying to verify for IRS E\Services for about a year now. I went through the procedure last year and was told all was good. Then in September I couldn't access the site. I have tried to re-register and have called the "help" number repeatedly, but still cannot get on the system again. Every IRS rep. has a different solution that does not work.  I'm currently waiting for another letter with a code to enable re-registration. I had been on E-Services for years prior to this with no problems. I just love it when the computer geeks improve a system !

I do  represent a number of taxpayers in various problems and the inability to access transcripts, etc. is a major problem. Guess all I can offer is a hearty good luck.

 

 

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I haven't gotten back on e-Services yet, either.  The knowledgebase questions end up being about my ex husband's second wife and not me, so I flunk.  The tax return questions are things like W-2 (I'm self-employed so don't have a W-2) and 1099s (they come in my EIN and not SSN), so I flunk.  I will have to go in person to an office, but it's several towns away.  They need my credit reports unfrozen, but I don't want to do that until I know everything else will work; and which credit agency as I'm not going to unfreeze all of them.  I went this season with no access to e-Services, but it's a problem, especially with the more complex returns I have on extension.

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I took my first husband's name, but I also took my second's -- so my name no longer matches my first husband, but they still mix us up.  I blame it on him using my address after our divorce for applying for credit, because Weston, CT, has a much better average credit rating than Syracuse where he moved.  And, I blame it on the dummies at the agencies that compare the address and not the SSN.  It's caused problems in other ways, but those I can explain to a real person who has authority, such as the banker when applying for a HELOC.  The IRS just follows their rubrics.  I get some wrong things off my credit reports from time to time, but new errors do pop up again.  My credit reports are pretty accurate now, it's just some dummy pulling Teri's by her "address" instead of mine by my SSN, so I flunk answering "her" questions.

My maiden name was Brown, so although I was married in the feminist 60's when my friends were keeping their names, I wanted to lose Brown.  I wanted something like Anderson that people could pronounce and spell, and not Franciose (rhymes with grandiose and not the French Francois) that I took.  I kept that after the divorce, because I was job hunting and because I had a young son.  But, I was very happy to take Lewis with my second husband a decade later.  Other than some Spanish speaking areas around here that want to spell it Louis or Luis, I have no problem -- other than the credit agencies and, therefore, the IRS -- with Lewis.  (Well, there is another Rita Lewis in CT who owes a car rental company, so I get nasty calls.  And, there was the time in the emergency room when they pulled the chart of a much younger Rita Lewis.)  I guess Lewis is a bit too common, but not as blah as Brown and not as rare as Franciose.  I used to hear Francois, Frances, Frankos, Frankosee (most common) and even Fricassee!

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I'm not sure that of why they can't verify my identity. My cell phone is in my name, I've had the same freaking name for 25 years and it worked fine until they updated their system. I was involved in the Equifax debacle, but did not freeze my credit. It's really annoying the heck out of me, because they can't seem to give me any solutions to fix it on their end. They have not even told me that I could go to the IRS office here to verify myself. They just told me that I could go with my client to verify his identity, but he can do that without me going with him and charging him for that trip. 

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6 hours ago, Lion EA said:

I used to hear Francois, Frances, Frankos, Frankosee (most common) and even Fricassee!

I grew up with an unusual Italian name and was thrilled to bits to change it as soon as I could (after my dad died, too).  I knew which lists where ALL my junk mail was purchased from, by the way the name was mis-spelled.  They got real creative at times.  Now with White, the only weird one was when someone thought it was Hoyt.  Now I say "like the color" and yes don't go all physics-technical on me, people call it a color!  😄

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It was easier to screen my calls long before caller ID by the way people would pronounce my name.  Home or work, I and my colleagues knew who was a real call I wanted/needed to take and who was just marketing or worse.  I do miss that, but I have caller ID now on all our phones.

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One of my husband's friends says what we really need is not caller ID, but call IQ.  To see if it's worth bothering to answer.  

Of course, I got not one, not two, but three "Windows Technical Support" calls yesterday.  Kept two of them going for a bit by playing stupid.  It was funny.

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