This thread about misspelled names reminded me of a problem I’ve yet to correct.
The Social Security Administration says my birthday is not my birthday. Specifically, it say’s it’s exactly one month later.
I’m not sure how my SSN was assigned. (I think my parents applied for all their kids’ numbers at the same time.) But I assume they remembered what month I was born.
Why is this a problem? I don’t want to work one month longer for retirement? (like that’s gonna happen.) No, it’s just that I can’t file taxes electronically. The IRS computer checks with the SSA and won’t accept my form with my correct date. And I don’t want to send one with the wrong date, in the off chance that doing so is illegal.
I know, I can somehow get it changed. But every time I go to the SSA office, there’s a 4 hour wait.
Assuming it’s worth it to you, get a certified copy of your birth certificate (mine cost $10) from the appropriate Registrar (Registrar of Vital Statistics, City Clerk, County Clerk, etc.) and send it, registered mail, with a letter clearly specifying your name, present mailing address, SSA #, a SSAE, and a request to correct their records, and let you know that it’s been done.
Much can be done by mail with them; there are only certain things for which you need to appear in person.
(Don’t take this as legal advice, but as information based on what I’ve seen of their rules for replacements and corrections.)
Actually, it’s not illegal to put the factually incorrect information into your taxes just so you can E-file. The SSA fucked up MY SS application too-don’t fucking ask me how. I filled out forms in triplicate with my name properly spelled and they “corrected” it for me to the more commonly way of spelling it(Real last name is Roza, corrected it to the hispanic “Rosa”).
Last year we had a tax preparer do our taxes. He ran into an issue with my last name and he only had to use the improper spelling of my name to get it to accept my taxes. My SS#, is correctly in it, so I got my check no problem.
Check with a preparer, they see this a lot and can give you correct advice.
Actually, Polycarp, you would be wise to use the proper form for requesting a new or modified card from the SSA. The form I have in front of me is called Form SS-5. In it of course is tons of nebulous advice, and birth certificates are not identified as valid identity documents. In reading over the 5 pages of drivel attached to this form, actually, it says in plain old english, in bold: ** WE CANNOT ACCEPT A BIRTH CERTIFICATE, HOSPITAL SOUVENIR BIRTH CERTIFICATE, SOCIAL SECURITY CARD OR CARD STUB, OR SOCIAL SECURITY RECORD**.
To the OP- go to the SS’s website and look up form SS-5.
I work for the state of Pennsylvania (Department of Welfare), and I can’t even imagine correcting someone’s spelling of their own name! If we did that we’d probably hear the end of it from both the client and our supervisor somewhere around the second Tuesday of next week.
I’m not saying that’s what they did, but it’s the only plausible explanation I’ve ever come up with. I would have called and bitched, but I was only 16 at the time. Now that this thread has reminded me, I will be visiting my local SSA office on thrusday.
So how the hell are you supposed to prove your identity if birth certificates, hospital souvenir birth certificates, SS cards or card stubs, or SS record are all out?
What I find bizarre is that when I get those periodic statements from SSA showing a history of my income, they’ve always got one year’s income with the incorrect amount. Even more bizarre is that the year which has the incorrect amount keeps shifting. I know it’s the incorrect amount, because they say I made $42K in one year, but that’s simply impossible. I’ve never earned that much in a single year in my entire life. I keep debating about informing them of their error, but never get around to actually doing it.
The form itself says that for identity changes, they will accept:
[ul]
[li]driver’s license[/li][li]employee ID card[/li][li]passport[/li][li]marriage or divorce record[/li][li]adoption record (if not being used to establish age)[/li][li]health insurance card (but not a Medicare card)[/li][li]military record[/li][li]life insurance policy[/li][li]school ID card[/li][/ul]
For AWB’s age change, the same form says that the SSA prefers to see your birth certificate (so Polycarp’s advice was correct) but will also accept:
[ul]
[li]hospital record of birth (created at the time of your birth)[/li][li]religious record showing your age (created before you were 3 months old)[/li][li]passport[/li][li]adoption record (must indicate that the birth date was taken from the original birth certificate)[/li][/ul]
You know, I type for a living and I keep trying to convince my bosses and everyone else that good data entry is worth its weight in gold. Nobody believes me. But think of the headaches that could be solved by paying data entry people decent wages.
I agree that quality data is crucial, but even the highest-paid, most accurate data entry clerk, typist, writer, editor, etc. is still only human (speaking as one who has been there, done that).
Yes, humans make mistakes. However, I must knock our federal government in this case. It arrived fucked up. When looking through all of the documentation, it essentially told me to go through the whole stupid fucking application process to get it corrected(as I will have to go through this week to correct the original mistake).
Every single W2 I’ve signed in the past 13 years has had a number to call in case they fucked up and my name needs to be corrected. Couldn’t this number be pro-active and actually have a use? No. No it doesn’t. It simply exists to give people with fucked up SS cards instructions to obtain a corrected card-by showing up at the SSA office and re-applying to correct the mistake.
I do not absolve myself of the responsibility for not having corrected it yet. That is mine and I own it. However, this could have been corrected when I was a kid by having an agent on the other end of the phone who could make the appropriate change to my card and resend it. Or have the same agent on the other end of the phone number indicated on all W2 forms who can make the appropriate changes to my card and send me an accurate, corrected card.
I already dread going to the SSA tomorrow or Friday, whenever I decide to go and lose pay to fix what never should have gotten fucked up since forms required my name in about 100 different places.
My wife needed to get a new card. So at the same time, we both went to the SSA office. She filled out the work to get a new card; I did the paperwork to get my birthday changed. I had my certified copy of my birth certificate. Everything seemed fine. They said they’d mail my birth certificate back when they’d complete their investigation. (Investigation!? Just change the computer database right there and then, can’t you? No, well… investigate away.)
Two months later, I get my birth cerificate mailed back, presumedly because they no longer needed it; that is, they’d completed their task and corrected my birthdate.
Four months after that, I get a new SSA card, even though I hadn’t requested one. Then doing a check, voila! My birthday is still listed as November, not October.
I don’t know how many times I’ve had to correct various employment, government or medical departments on the spelling. Often they see Steven or Sven and type it in as such.
Try a middle name like Lucy on for size. It took me eleven years to convince the SSA that I was
a) male
b) born in October, not April
c) born in Salt Lake City, Utah, not Colorado Springs, CO.
My favorite, though, was when I joined AARP.
Got 2 membership cards.
One for Ms. FirstnameInDisguise*
Second for Mrs. LucyInDisguise
My wife, who at the time was not eligible for membership, giggled for a week. Then she got a real kick out of trying to straighten out that mess.
I took over when she gave up after 18 months. Wimp.
AARP is WAY more stuborn than SSA. Just 9 1/2 more years to go … [sigh]
You just reminded me of a problem that I have put on the back-burner for when I run out of problems. The SSA claims I was born exactly one year after my real date of birth so evidently, this type of thing can’t be all that uncommon. I even called them once about how to fix it and they droned on and on to the point where I just decided to retire a year later if at all. Every year when I e-file my taxes, I am made painfully aware of it again.
