SSC woes

[mengmommy]

Ok so we don't have any medical records for dd...I JUST got her birth certificate in the mail YESTERDAY! Her first bday is next month!! So we ran to the ssc office to try and get her card applied for. No go. She needs two forms of id. WTH?!? How does an infant have two forms of id? It took my 6 freakin months just to get her birth cert. I jusy want to get this whole thing over with. We need to file an addendum to our taxes (as in add her) and get the rest of our refund because we NEED it asap. I know it could take up to 12 weeks to get the card to begin with...but if we can't even get the ball rolling!!! I'm so frustrated!

[Mommyintraining2]

Maybe she can get her drivers license between now and then! Funny! Two pieces of ID at that age? Not too sure what advice to give you, but have you thought about calling the IRS to see if they have any suggestions since they are the ones requiring the SS#?

[mengmommy]

Yeah I tried talking to them back in April and they just said they needed a SSN for her. Doh Doh Doh

They did tell me when I call the main SSoffice that they would take a church paper (like baptism/dedication/etc) so I am going to try and call our church Monday (they are closed today) to see if I can get her dedication paper from a week after her birth that I forgot to pick up. If not I think I might make her a well baby check somewhere. Why does this have to be so hard?

[Codi's Mama]

I've heard a shot record counts as a form of ID. Even if the shot part is blank.

[reducereuserecycle]

Maybe she can get her drivers license between now and then! 


maybe she could actually get an id. i had to get one to fly before i was 16. u get them at the same place as a driver liscence-never mind, i bet u need a SS# to get one

i'm stumped! i hope u can figure something out!

[lactivist]

If she is on your health insurance her insurance card will work as an id. It seems so ridiculous the way they have the rules set up but it is easy to have all this paperwork if you birth in a hospital. Of course it isn't worth it at all. Good luck I hope it all comes together quickly.
Wendi

[mengmommy]

Yeah, we don't have health insurance, so thats a no go. Dumb dumb dumb.

[rweintritt]

We've never put our children's ssn on our taxes and we've always gotten all the credit. Are you sure that you have to put it on there?

[mengmommy]

Wow, really? When I called the IRS and asked them about dd she said we absolutely HAD to have it. Maybe I should call them back...hmm...

[josephine_e]

so if a dr. says that she's her (based solely on your word and the bc, right?) then she's really her .... ?? : but if you say she's her and show them her bc, that's a no go? derr.

[mengmommy]

I know! Its ridiculous I think. : I could take anyone's baby to a doctor and tell them that its so and so. Sheesh. I get what they are trying to do, I really do. But come on, it was hard enough for me to get the stinkin birth certificate! Perhaps they don't realize the hoops I had to jump through to get that...maybe if they did they'd see that I proved her identity as much as you can without a blood test!

[AugustLia23]

They need the 2 forms of ID in MA too, I used his medical records fro his ped. visits...one place took them, another place said they couldn't take them. We did manage to get his social before a year...

[bryonyvaughn]

Originally Posted by mengmommy

...She needs two forms of id. WTH?!? How does an infant have two forms of id? ...

With one child we just went across the street to the public library and got a library card for a one week old. That was before 9/11 and Homeland Security.

Since all that idiocy you need stricter forms of ID. You can get a baptismal record (of course you can buy blanks at Christian book stores and fill them out yourself!), a day care invoice, vaccine record (like PP said, a record saying vx declined works), school record (you can make up an official looking homeschool record), a doctor letter (can be any doctor, provider ID # not required)... you can get very creative with your computer and printer.

FTR the IRS changed their policy in the mid-90s that in order to get a tax deduction for dependent they needed a SSN. If anyone's gotten a deduction w/o a number (barring another sort of number for non-citizens) it must be a lucky oversight.

~BV

[feebeeglee]

I will ask DH, but I'm pretty sure we used her baptismal certificate and her BC to get Trixie's SSN. It was just about two weeks ago that we got it, so it should be fresh in his memory...

ETA: He says he used his ID, her BC and her baptismal certificate.

[thebarkingbird]

we were able to use a baptismal cert or a shot record in this state.

that might be hard if you don't have your kids baptized and didn't keep them in a hospital which is where the first shots were given.

[bryonyvaughn]

Originally Posted by thebarkingbird

we were able to use a baptismal cert or a shot record in this state...

The SSA is a federal agency so the requirements are the same across the states. That being said any individual clerk is capable of refusing your ID for whatever reason of personal prejudice (DC not a "real" doctor, whatever not a "real" church, homeschooling isn't "real" school, etc) or, even worse IMO is to accept the ID and then not put in the inbox for processing.

As it can be very difficult to get a supervisor on the phone (or getting a clerk to abide by the policy set forth by an off-site supervisor), if you get too much run around you can always appeal to your representative's or senator's office to intervene on your behalf. They're happy to help. Constituent services help reelect the congressmen and reelected congressmen keep their staffs employed.

~BV

[mengmommy]

Ok see, thats what I thought about the tax thing. Thanks for clearing that up.


Thank you BV, the problem *I think* is that he went and asked his supervisor what he could accept...so I think I'll have to pick a different office when I go back...because that supervisor isn't going to look kindly on anything I bring in. I guess if this all doesn't work I could take her to the county clinic and get a *not* vaxing record then or something.

[1babysmom]

That's weird Jen! Our OR taxes don't require any of our kids info, either...we just put down that we had one. LOL But then again, ours weren't ammened...I wonder if that makes the difference?

[cottonwood]

Oh, I'm so sorry. You can get a SSN hassle-free if you ask the vital statistics office to do it for you at the same time that you register the birth. That's how we got SSNs for our first two who were born at home. I'd call the social security office at 1-800-772-1213, explain the situation, and ask exactly how you are supposed to prove the identity of your baby other than with a birth certificate. Ridiculous.

In any case, as others have said, you can indeed claim your child as a dependent on taxes without a SSN. I don't think you can do it online though.

[bryonyvaughn]

Originally Posted by 1babysmom

That's weird Jen! Our OR taxes don't require any of our kids info, either...we just put down that we had one. LOL But then again, ours weren't ammened...I wonder if that makes the difference?

States can make their own regulations for claiming dependents. Federal tax documentation requirements are the same across the board.

Originally Posted by fourlittlebirds

Oh, I'm so sorry. You can get a SSN hassle-free if you ask the vital statistics office to do it for you at the same time that you register the birth.

The SSA is getting pricklier about this all the time. Now sometimes they're refusing to process SSNs for OOH births, even if the parents check the box on the birth registration form for the county clerk's office/ dept of vital statistics to automatically apply for a SSN and send the information on to the SSA. The glitch is the BC is *not* an identity establishing document but an age establishing document. Babies born in hospital have their identities established by the staff at their birth so,as long as the documentation traveled directly from the hospital to whoever registers births in your state to the SSA, the SSA accepts these BCs as *both* proof of ID and proof of age. If the box SSN box wasn't checked at the hospital, those parents applying for a SSN on their own would be in the same situation as OOH birthers having to come up with identity establishing documents alongside their age establishing BCs.

Originally Posted by fourlittlebirds

In any case, as others have said, you can indeed claim your child as a dependent on taxes without a SSN. I don't think you can do it online though.

Hhhmmm. Are you also talking about state rather than federal taxes?

I think it was only in '96 and maybe '97 that parents of children born in the last 30, 45, or 90 days (I can't remember) of those years could file that years federal taxes without a SSN. After that even New Year's Eve babies needed a SSN for their parents to get a federal dependent exemption.

If you folks are really talking about getting exemptions for your children on your *federal* taxes without SSNs, I can only imagine it was do to an oversight and if you were audited, you'd lose the exemption. Of course you could always go back and get SSN for your child and file an amended return for the years in dispute to regain the exemption. FLB's comment about it not working online makes me think this is the case... if you all are talking about federal rather than state taxes of course.

BV, who wishes experience hadn't taught her so much about certain topics