CONSUMERS : Exempting Children by the Numbers
Listen up, Moms and Dads: Your child’s case of the “Terrible 2s” isn’t your only problem. The Internal Revenue Service now requires 2-year-olds to have a Social Security number, and if they don’t, you’ll hear from the agency as soon as you file your tax return by next Monday’s deadline.
You thought children didn’t need the numbers until they were age 5? Well, a 1986 federal law requiring 5-year-olds to have Social Security numbers was amended by Congress in 1988. Under the Family Support Act, claimed dependents aged 2 or older by Dec. 31, 1989, must have a Social Security number to list on tax returns.
“I didn’t know the law had changed,” said Ronald Baker of Burbank, a Pacific Bell employee who went to the Glendale Social Security office late last week to apply for numbers for his sons, Jeffrey, 5, and Matthew, 3. “My tax man told me.”
Juliette Grigorian, who visited the office with her son, Dro, 4, said she knew the number was needed for tax purposes, “but I kept putting it off.”
Baker and Grigorian had already filed their 1989 returns, stating “applied for” on the line that reads “Dependents: (3) If age 2 or older, dependent’s Social Security number.”
Technically, the IRS can send back your return if you haven’t listed a Social Security number for any child older than 2 whom you claim as an exemption on your 1989 form. But Jan Gribbon, a Los Angeles IRS office spokeswoman, said the agency doesn’t plan to send back the tax returns, opting instead to “correspond with the taxpayer.”
Gribbon said parents who have already filed returns will receive an IRS letter asking them to send the required information to the agency so their forms can be processed.
“If there is a refusal or no response, we are planning an enforcement of a $5 penalty,” Gribbon said. “But if somebody is waiting for a refund (and hasn’t included dependents’ Social Security numbers), it will be delayed because it will be classed as an errored return.”
Why does a 2-year-old need a Social Security number? For two reasons, government sources say:
* To avoid duplication of tax filings, for example, when divorced parents both claim children as a deduction.
* To deter taxpayers from claiming fictitious dependents.
The Social Security number requirements have been effective, Gribbon reported. In 1987, for example, when the law required numbers for children age 5 for the first time on tax forms, 7 million dependents dropped off the tax rolls.
Getting a Social Security number for your child isn’t hard, but it can be time-consuming. And even after you’ve filled out the form and provided the proper documents, you probably won’t receive the number for two to three weeks, maybe longer. Cards are issued from the Social Security Administration’s central headquarters in Baltimore.
The Social Security Administration reports that many children already have numbers by age 1, “most likely because they were needed for a bank or savings account, savings bond or other financial transaction.”
If your children were born in the United States, you may apply for their numbers by mail. But if they are not native born, a parent must go to a Social Security office to show documents and complete forms.
To apply by mail, parents may request form SS-5 by calling a toll-free Social Security Administration number, (800) 234-5SSA, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (local time) Monday through Friday.
If you apply by mail, officials recommend that you send the papers by registered or certified mail.
“They should do that for their protection, so the papers don’t get lost,” said Roy Aragon of the Social Security Administration. “Generally, we send them back by certified mail.”
If you apply in person, you need not bring children to the Social Security office. But you must be able to prove their: age, say, through a birth certificate; identity, through another record such as a medical bill or day-care center or baptismal record; and U.S. citizenship or legal alien status. A birth certificate serves as evidence of age and U.S. citizenship.
All documents must be originals or certified copies--not photocopies.
Parents or guardians also must provide identification for themselves, since they will sign the child’s application; a driver’s license or passport will do.
If you go to a Social Security office, be prepared for long lines.
“We have between 150 and 250 people a week applying for their kids,” said Joanne Nelson, assistant manager of the Glendale office, who added that her agency tries to handle applications as quickly as possible. “A lot of people are reluctant to send birth certificates and other documents through the mail.”
There is a national plan to simplify the process for parents of newborns; 41 states participate in an “enumeration at birth” program, a joint effort of the Social Security Administration, state vital statistic bureaus and hospitals.
Under that plan, new parents can get a Social Security number for their child by checking a box on a form used to issue their baby’s birth certificate. The hospital sends the proper information to Social Security; the child’s card is sent to the parents.
California does not participate in this program but legislation is pending in Sacramento to provide that option to parents beginning next January.
