that is proof that she knew there was a probable issue with her and yet she continued to employ her for years, until she decided she wanted to run for governor/president.
It's not proof of anything other than there is a matching problem.
Matching problems are not uncommon, and occur for many reasons. You can get one even if your SS# is correctly entered.
It's more than that actually. The fact is, you can't really employ someone for 9 years and NOT discover it. The only way would be if you decided to pay the employee under the table the entire time, which itself is illegal, and even then you probably did it because you suspected the person was illegal if not outright knew it. And if you decide to go through the system, which Whitman initially did here, you are going to find out. The first letter may not be conclusive that she's illegal because it could be a typo, but eventually you'll find out because the fact is you can't get the W-2 processed through SS at any time.
- wolf
Yup.
So I'd really like to see what happened in subsequent years. Did Whitman (or in all likelyhood her CPA) continue to file W-2's etc? Did the IRS send more mis-match letters every year?
------------------
As a tax CPA I have a different perspective than others. I haven't said much about it because I was curious to see what non-CPA etc think about these IRS matching letters. I.e., how's the average voter likely to view this?
I find it interesting that you guys so quickly accept the notion that one of these letters is somehow proof that you are an illegal alien.
I go to national conventions held by the IRS etc. When they were rolling out their website that employers could use to verify any prospective employee's SS#, they heavily cautioned us NOT to use it as a means of detecting illegals, too many threats of lawsuits. We are also cautioned against taking any action against employee when a matching error pops up.
If you haven't already, go look at the pdf and check the IRS language warning against interpreting the letter as proof someone is illegal, warning against taking any action against the employee etc.
I think Allred needs to be careful. I wonder if it has yet ocurred to her that the tax info she is distributing might be Whitman's; if so that's a fed crime.
OTOH, might be OK if it's the maid's copy, but might not.
Congress has enacted a frickin slew of rules against disclosing someone's tax info.
Fern