LisaSTL Wrote:
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> All of the possibilities for fraud amaze me. But
> it happens on shops too and we all pay that price.
> I thought that while a company isn't required to
> send us a 1099 they still have to report it as
> part of their expenses to the IRS. Most companies
> aren't asking for I-9 info, but the SSN can also
> be verified and may help protect them if our
> citizenship and/or work eligibility is questioned.
I'm sure that companies keep close track of all of the payments and to whom they were made for tax purposes in preparing their own corporate returns. Certainly if one of them was audited on their claimed expenses IRS would be likely to do some double checking on payments the company is claiming were sent to various social security numbers.
As for fraud, over the years I have heard of many fraudulent situations in shopping. Many companies have built in 'fraud detector' questions in their reports and yet they still get taken. I think the bulk of the problem is in not getting to know their shoppers and not screening them properly, but I guess that is just too much work. The net result is increasing requirements on shoppers to prove they were there. The current iPhone application shoppers are encouraged to use is one such 'requirement'. My all time favorite, however, was the company that wanted a photo of the front of the business with that day's newspaper such that you could read the date on the paper. Try doing that and getting the paper and the store in focus while remaining covert! And of course it still didn't prove that you went inside the store.