Tax IDs, whether SSN or EIN have an entirely different level of confidentiality than what is submitted as part of a tax return. This is because of the 'nature of the beast'. Realize that any MSP to whom you provide a SSN or EIN can verify it, yet they have no access to even whether you file an individual or joint tax return--much less what the contents of that return might be. State and local governments have access to more information than an MSP, but even they would need a subpoena for tax return information.

My $0.02 ... my accountant advised me against getting an EIN. Getting one is not something even the IRS advises we do, and my accountant said it would end up costing me more in accountant's fees, for starters.

Here the State gets info. from the Feds in regard to my IRS taxes. I know that for a fact because I made an error on my Fed. form once which changed my State so that it appeared I owed more than I paid and they sent me a nice letter telling me that. So I do believe the Feds and the State (at least here in my State) do trade info.

I would also seriously doubt that the powers that made the decision the initially require the EIN could possibly understand the financial ramifications of it for each area they have shops in.

Hi everyone. I would like to know if anyone who has not furnished an EIN to Trendsource is still a PN agent. On the Trendsource homepage it states:

2.All PN Agents without an EIN/W-9 will no longer be allowed to self-assign projects. PN Agents will still be able to request projects, but EIN/W-9 approved Field Agents will have priority.

My PN status was taken away on the 22nd. I have not furnished an EIN. I am trying to determine if there are indeed PN agents without EINs or if all of us are no longer PNs unless we have furnished an EIN. I understand I can no longer self assign.That's their loss.

Hi, Redhead5. I just checked their website, and I can still log in as a PN without an EIN. (I feel like I should sing E-I-E-I-O after that!)

I have been able to all along...

OK - Now this whole EIN thing appears to be over.

I logged on and noticed a link saying I needed to take the Premier network quiz. Took the easiest test ever and I can now self assign.
I still do not have an EIN but I can self assign anyway.

Interesting.

I received a email yesterday saying that unless I provided a EIN that I would not be paid for my shops. I had previously submitted a W-9 like they requested but used my social and left the EIN blank.



Dear

We could not approve you for payment due to the one of the following problems with your Employer ID Number and/or W-9 form:

The field for your Employer ID Number was either left blank on the W-9 form, or the number you entered is not valid.

Please login to your Field Agent website and either upload a corrected W-9 or provide a current EIN so you can be approved for payment.

Thank You,

TrendSource, Inc.
This email was sent to:
This email was sent by: TrendSource, Inc.
4891 Pacific Highway Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92110 US

This is exactly what I was talking about in an earlier post. I am not sure that this is legal and should be reported to the proper States' Attorney's office for possible prosecution. You might even think about filing a complaint with the States' Attorney office in the state where they are located and/or incorporated. This is morally and ethically wrong and should not be tolerated.

kalfini Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK - Now this whole EIN thing appears to be over.
>
> I logged on and noticed a link saying I needed to
> take the Premier network quiz. Took the easiest
> test ever and I can now self assign.
> I still do not have an EIN but I can self assign
> anyway.


I am looking at this a different way. The MSP has changed it's tune so many times, I have much difficulty trusting anything they say. Yes, that even includes getting paid. So, I'm sitting out on this MSP for a while.

As for me, I received several emails for jobs today. I can log in with no mention of the Premier network. I have the button to request shops in the same manner I was able to self-assign shops in the past.

Happy Shopping!

Well, let me ask this question and maybe it will clear things up. Lisa and Flash -- Did the local red flags go up when you filed for the EIN and did you have to notify both federal and local tax bodies to get the EIN?

Well, I don't know about red flags. I mean, why. I had to notify no one that I received an EIN, and simply had to go online to IRS.gov to get it. I got one simply because I "pay" my children when they help with shops (where allowed of course) and that requires an EIN.
If you don't need one under IRS guidelines, then simply report to your MSP that you cannot comply because the IRS says you do not need one, and quote the appropriate line from their guidelines..'
We are really beating this horse into the ground. Check with your tax professional, and end it. So far as I see, most of us are not required to get one. If you do, it changes nothing. It does not change your tax status; you're required to claim all your income, regardless of what number you use. It does not change your status with local government, as an IC you are still operating a home business.
The only thing I see that has changed, is those MSP's that issue checks, will now do so in your business name, which could be a problem with bank. So far we have had none. But as someone has already noted on this forum, simply register or call you business by name you use now.

I asked a question to have an issue clarified. It would appear that the problems that were created for Flash had nothing to do with reporting requirements and more with government agencies sharing tax information. Each jurisdiction has different requirements and, though you have not had problems, others have and I asked these valid questions to understand how the obtaining an EIN ended up with the need for zoning considerations and licenses. That is not beating the subject into the ground just an attempt to understand how these things occurred.

I never got the EIN. My information was gathered while researching another business that did not pan out in the end.

Question asked, asked, asked, and clarified, etc. For some reason, this message has not gotten thru: It matters not whether you have an EIN or not. It does not change your tax situation at. It does not change your responsibly under local or state law.
The IRS or any other agency doesn't run out to find who needs to know you use an EIN or TIN. They are prevented from doing that.

So yes, this horse has passed. Let's move on to other pertinent and interesting threads. There is a lot to learn and experience out here.

The question has not been answered and you are not in the position to answer the question since you did not have the experience I have asked about. So, you have absolutely no right to respond to a question that has nothing to do with you or make a judgment as to whether it has been answered or not. I asked the people who actually experienced the problem how that came to pass. I did not ask you your opinion.

Thank you for answering, Lisa. I guess Flash was the only one who had local issues develop with zoning and licensing requirements.

I found out about mine while doing my research. All of that was not relevant to my changing my mind about the other business. In that case there was going to be additional up front costs and I was not given enough assurance that I would get a contract necessary to make it work.

As far as the IRS not notifying local authorities, to me that is not necessarily relevant. That is just operating outside of the regulations and there is always the possibility that any penalties if one were to get caught would not make it worthwhile.

Lisa -- I'm still wondering about what triggered the local government checking on zoning and licensing issues that I believe Flash experienced. If the IRS is not sharing tax id numbers with local tax authorities, then what triggered the business-related issues?

I know she talked about it at some point, but it could be somewhere in this 9 page thread or on one of the other threads about EINs (and they were numerous). Hopefully she will remind us tomorrow

I know she mentioned that getting the EIN set those issues in motion and was just trying to see if I could understand how it happened. I believe that the more you understand how things work, the easier it will be to navigate the crazy government regulations that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Goodbye - avitoots Super Star Member.

That was disrespectful, rude and arrogant. Like one of the kids having a tantrum. If you didn't ask opinion, why ask the question.

So, I will practice what I preach. I am done with this thread.

My apologies to the rest of you if I have offended any by my response. It is certainly not what I teach.

Good, God, I really don't understand why someone has no problem deciding whether a question directed to specific people was answered for me is acceptable then when I call him on his nonsense he gets upset. Makes absolutely no sense. As I said before, I am trying to learn something which seems to seems to be offensive to some.

Hello Deacon – I don’t want you to keep thinking getting this EIN number doesn’t make a difference. You don’t understand what can happen here, so I want to tell you about my experiences recently. You’re going to change your mind about this number when you read what’s been happening to me.

I previously reported that I’ve had an EIN number for decades with no repercussions of any kind. I don’t use the number for reporting income tax, and the only thing I’ve done with it in recent years is furnish it to some MSPs.

Well, I was just hasty and wrong. I’ve recently had all sorts of issues arise because I got that EIN number. It took a while for events to develop.

The first thing that happened was that I was contacted by Parker County Precinct 2, and that organization informed me that since I had an EIN number, they were authorized by law to park their road graders and paving equipment in my front yard when they’re working in this area. Also, the workers would be parking their pickups on the lawn under the grove of oak trees at the southwest corner of my property, where they will take breaks and lunch times.

I was told up front that any trash found on my property or in the road ditch at the front of the property will not be theirs and will have been cast off by some irresponsible hick driving down the road. I didn’t find this acceptable, but since I had the EIN number I knew there could be no good result from taking issue so I sucked it up. During the last go round, they were really sweet to grade off my front yard down to the bedrock in a last minute effort to clean up their mess. I was so grateful. Now I don’t have to water. What a relief, but I’m going to miss my crepe myrtles and the big pomegranate.

I then heard from the IRS wanting me to file 941s on my employees, and insisting that these reports had not been filed for several years and if I refused to comply, they would be assessing steep fines which would be due immediately or interest would accrue, plus more penalties and more interest. I had to hire employees in order to be able to meet this requirement, and since I can’t use employees to assist me on my mystery shops, I had to set up an entirely different home based business and create working space in my home for these employees. I decided to make cookies and praline candies, as I aspired in the past to be the Parker County Pie Lady but pies are so much trouble I backed off to cookies and candy. I know you cooks out there understand.

After I started selling the cookies and candy, I heard from the Texas Department of Health that I was making unlicensed food in an unapproved kitchen inside a private home and using employees who hadn’t passed the health inspection. I would have to completely remodel a room, which would cost me $68,000, in order to build a separate kitchen to pass inspection so I could sell the candy and pralines, which I was making because I had to hire employees because the IRS insisted I report on Forms 941 because I got the EIN. I also owed a lot of money for fines assessed in connection with my many mistakes. Would this nightmare ever end? No.

I then heard from the State of Texas Employment Bureau and they wanted to know where were the State reports on the employees listed on the Federal reports, and where was the money they were due for unemployment benefits contributions . What! They also wanted a copy of my employee compensation insurance policy, which I should supply right away. If I did not have this insurance, I could purchase it locally with no problem. I checked on the insurance and for my few employees, it was $23,846 annually. This was in addition to the money I owed the state for unemployment benefits contributions. I took out a bank loan, for which I had to mortgage the back pasture. Would this nightmare ever end? No.

I was originally told that my new $68,000 kitchen looked like it might pass the final inspection, but no, wrong again. The state inspector said he appreciated my efforts but he wasn’t entirely satisfied because I hadn’t ripped out the original hardwood flooring and installed a hard tile that could be washed down with disinfectant or cleaned with a steam cleaner. He said since I had some acreage, the best thing to do was build a separate building and he would work with me diligently to be sure that it met specs for making cookies and candy. In the meantime, I had to shut down the cookie/candy business, but I couldn’t let my employees go because I had to keep them to report on the 941 federal form.

I whined to him all this had happened to me because I innocently and ignorantly applied for an EIN. He said, “ Oh yes, I see, I’ve heard about that number, oh well.”

I asked what I was supposed to do with the new $68,000 kitchen I had installed on the upper level of my home specifically to meet state requirements for making cookies and candy, and he suggested I remodel that whole area into a separate apartment which I could probably rent out for as much as $450 a month.

I investigated this possibility and found a remodel of the entire upper level would result in my plumbing, septic, and electrical systems having to be brought up to current code. Additionally, the well was too close to the septic and a new well would be required 1,000 feet north of the old well. This would require the purchase of the property adjacent, which was a bargain at $412,000. Also, the remodeling already done had already resulted in a tax reclassification of the property. I would no longer qualify for the over 65 tax break or the homestead exemption. This was the first thought I’d had that all this remodeling was going to hike my school and county taxes through the roof I could apparently no longer afford. What!

I said that I had no idea what I was going to do. Getting this EIN number had caused me to have to start a new business, hire employees, lose my front yard, build a new kitchen that wouldn’t pass inspection, take out a loan on the back pasture, essentially triple property taxes on my original property, and buy an entirely separate property for $412,000.

In response to my incessant whining, the state inspector stated that he was not actually involved in every level of my problems and he was only on site to tell me the kitchen I had built would not do.

So, you see, Deacon, this quagmire has a life of its own and its growing bigger and bigger. I hope that you and some of the other shoppers out there can provide pertinent observations that will be helpful.

I’d like to get out from under this number, but I understand there’s no divorce. Too bad and so sad. Well, bye for now. I’ve got to get some work lined up for tomorrow. That pasture loan payment I took out is coming right up, and who knows what else. Not me. I don’t have a clue.

mdavisonwell -- Thank you for sharing your experience. That is unbelievable. Since the IRS says you generally only need an EIN if you have employees, it seems reasonable that they would expect you to have employees you did not report. Do you have any idea how your local government found out you got an EIN? Also, has anyone successfully cancelled an EIN? If so, could you share so people who want to get rid of this burden can do so.

Mary,

Take solace in knowing that you are not alone. For years my EIN did not make any difference, but lately there has been a strange odor coming from the office where I keep it. I've also noted that some items in the office have been moved about when I was not there, and a cup was knocked off my desk. I suspect the EIN is behind this!

I've done some preliminary research that suggests EINs are very hard to get rid of, but I'm just not comfortable having this thing anymore. My cat is also leery of the EIN and runs whenever I pull it from the cabinet where it's stored. Cat's have a 6th sense about these sorts of things....

Crikey! Will someone please embalm this thread to put all of us out of our misery?

Steve. I feel your cats pain! I am starting to enjoy this thread so bump to the top!...