From: putney <putney@rigel.infonex.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 20:40:30 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Validating SSNs
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.961113202851.18335A-100000@rigel.infonex.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>At 4:13 PM 11/13/96, Black Unicorn wrote:

>>Exercise for the reader:  How does the bank verify SSNs?

>OK, I'll bite.

>My guess is that the bank sticks the SSN in a report to the IRS and the
>bank is happy with the SSN as long as the IRS doesn't complain about it.

>Now, does the IRS check? I suspect that they don't, either. Their objective
>is to look for "matches" with SSNs that show up on filed tax forms, since
>they want to verify the data on the tax form. Given the behavior of every
>other large database I've ever seen, I'd guess that there would be a huge
>number of SSNs that don't in fact associate with tax forms. If someone High
>Up hasn't decreed that they should chase such things down (and allocated
>heaps of money to do it), they'll ignore the mismatches.

>This seems consistent with the reports of people who use bogus SSNs for
>decades at a time.

>Rick.
>smith@sctc.com

Yup - You've got it right.  A bank's responsibility is to make the SSN 
match on tape with what the IRS has - thats it.  It was part of the big 
stink in the 80's when congress first said that all banks had to withhold 
on all interest, the banks yelled, and then the SSN match program was 
instituted.

There are significant fines for banks that do not follow up on 
mis-matches, or do not begin "back-up" withholding.  One person is no big 
deal, but they add up fast!

The IRS's job is to collect income so if the number matches with a filing 
then a-okay!

Yo.

Putney