From: Adam Shostack <adam@homeport.org>
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 1997 22:00:21 +0800
To: declan@well.com (Declan McCullagh)
Subject: Re: Plea from a parent who wants to keep their kid free of SSNs
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.3.95.970925115935.1676I-100000@well.com>
Message-ID: <199709261331.JAA07462@homeport.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



This may go against your religious wishes, but listing your children
with SSNs of public figures may allow you to bypass the IRS computer
that checks if the child has a valid SSN listed, without getting SSNs
that 'belong to' your children.

"Yes, I did name my children Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, in the
hopes that they'll grow up facist."

Adam


Declan McCullagh wrote:
| 
| 
| ---------- Forwarded message ----------
| Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 08:12:58 +0000
| From: "David C. Treibs" <sirdavid@ktc.com>
| To: "(David C. Treibs)" < (SirDavid@ktc.com)>
| Subject: Need Help with IRS Problems
| 
|                                         David C. Treibs
|                                         Fredericksburg, TX 78624
|                                         sirdavid@ktc.com
| 
| Hi.
| 
| We are in trouble with the IRS, and we need help.
| 
| For religious reasons (explained below), we do not have Social Security
| numbers for our children, the oldest of 4 being 5 years old.
| 
| Last year we sent in our return, as we have always done, without SSNs
| for our children. My wife and I do have social security numbers, and we
| sent those. IRS sent us a letter saying they were disallowing our
| exemptions since we had no SSNs for them. They gave us the opportunity
| to contest their disallowance, which we did by sending them our
| children's birth certificates; and letters from our parents, and a letter
| from our pediatrician, stating the children we claimed were indeed our
| children and our dependents. We don't have a problem proving that we are
| claiming legitimate dependents.
| 

-- 
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
					               -Hume