This post is similar to a previous post, but not exactly so keep reading. Techman answered the other question for me. Here's my situation: My car has died and needs expensive repairs. I can't work without car. If I can't work, I can't fix the car, yada yada. I want to file my taxes and get my refund PRONTO. I know exactly how much I made from each provider last year, so I don't have to wait for a 1099 for that, but I do need the EIN numbers of the providers who will be sending me 1099s. Specifically, I need the EIN of the following companies: Bare, CORI, Measure CP, Marketforce Blue, and Trendsource. Can anyone help me out with any of these? Desparation is setting in!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2013 12:43AM by shawnthewoman.

You don't know what these companies will be showing on their 1099's. Of the compaines you listed, some include reimbursements on their 1099's and some don't. Some include bonuses, some don't.

If your 1099 number doesn't match what they send the irs, then you are a shoe-in for an audit and your refund will likely be delayed.

The way I understand it, an audit, if it were to occur, would be at some later date after I had received my refund. At this point, I am willing to take that chance. I need my car!

You might e-mail the providers from whom you expect to receive 1099s and ask them for their EIN numbers.

Thanks AustinMom, I can and have actually. I just want to get this done ASAP, like tonight and was hoping someone who got a 1099 from one of them last year could pass along the info.

You don't need them! If you report your total earnings, it does NOT have to be broken down by MSC. As long as the total you report is equal to or greater than the total on the 1099's the IRS is happy. I haven't entered any individual 1099's on my return in years.

Just add up all the money you got from every MSC, put that down and go.

The problem you will run into is that nobody can efile until January 31, per the IRS, and if you have any depreciation or a K-1 on your return . . . it will be another month.

Thank you, Congress.....

You need the advice found here [www.sba.gov] under the topic "How do I find another business's EIN?"

shawnthewoman, because of the electronic system they use now, if your numbers don't match theirs when you efile, they will kick it back to you and tell you to fix it, delaying your return. Then several months later you get hit with a "random" audit. Then you have to hope they don't consider your mystery shopping as a hobby. If they do that, nothing is deductible.

As someone said above, I heard the same that being able to file was delayed because of last minute tax code changes, especially for those that need to itemize which is every mystery shopper.

EINs are printed on the 1099s.

All this hype about automatic targeting for an audit is balony! I have had discrepancies between 1099s and report income many, many years as an IC. They have NEVER triggered even an iquiry, much less a delay or an audit. The formula for discrepanicies that flag returns for further examination requires a lot more than this to kick out your return.

walesmaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EINs are printed on the 1099s.
>
> All this hype about automatic targeting for an
> audit is balony! I have had discrepancies between
> 1099s and report income many, many years as an IC.
> They have NEVER triggered even an iquiry, much
> less a delay or an audit. The formula for
> discrepanicies that flag returns for further
> examination requires a lot more than this to kick
> out your return.


Many many years ago they did not have the electronic technology they are using now. If company A submits a 1099 that shows 5500 and you put down 4500, they will send it back to you to fix, occasionally I've heard that their computer system will sometimes automatically fix it and adjust your refund depending on the circumstance. That doesn't mean you will be audited....

Times have changed.

Just because their computers CAN do something does not mean that the algorythm is set to have that happen. Because of the need to target their compliance/enforcement budget, the "variance" that is required to kick out a return for further consideration will not target stuff as common as 1099s that disagree with stated income unless other conditions are met.

I am not referring to the distant past with my experience. In addition, I know many ICa who have recent experience with the problem of incorrect 1099s and they are NOT hearing from the IRS. The combination of circumstances that would trigger scrutiny for a case that included, among other things, such an inconsistancy, would be quite rare.

I will say the IRS is definitely more on their game, as far as catching 1099 discrepancies, than ever.

Last year I inadvertently transposed 2 numbers on a total for a 1099. The mistake made my overall income slightly lower. I had lumped the dozen or so MSC 1099's into a single schedule C and did not report the individual companies, but just gave a lump sum.

Within a few weeks of filing (and after I had received my return), I received a letter stating that there was a discrepancy with their information, a bill for the tax difference, and a note advising that if I paid it within 30 days, there would be no penally.

The IRS numbers were dead accurate. I re-totaled the 1099s and found my mistake, send them a check for the difference and never heard from them again. No audit required because they knew exactly what I owed them.....and they were right.

SteveSoCal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I will say the IRS is definitely more on their
> game, as far as catching 1099 discrepancies, than
> ever.
>
> Last year I inadvertently transposed 2 numbers on
> a total for a 1099. The mistake made my overall
> income slightly lower. I had lumped the dozen or
> so MSC 1099's into a single schedule C and did not
> report the individual companies, but just gave a
> lump sum.
>
> Within a few weeks of filing (and after I had
> received my return), I received a letter stating
> that there was a discrepancy with their
> information, a bill for the tax difference, and a
> note advising that if I paid it within 30 days,
> there would be no penally.
>
> The IRS numbers were dead accurate. I re-totaled
> the 1099s and found my mistake, send them a check
> for the difference and never heard from them
> again. No audit required because they knew
> exactly what I owed them.....and they were right.

That is exactly my point. If their system determines it appears to be just a numbers issue, they will not do an audit and will either reduce your refund automatically, or if the system sees it after, send you a bill.

The bigger point here is, and what I think some are forgetting is, why give the irs another reason to potentially flag you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2013 05:43PM by techman01.

All of this tax advice is really great and I thank all of you for sharing your experiences, but I've been doing my taxes for a couple of decades now, and am pretty well versed in the ins-and-outs of the IRS. What I really need are those EINs. Surely someone out there has them; its not like they are secret information that shouldn't be shared. Won't one of you cough them up please? I really need to get this ball rolling!

Cough them up? Don't you mean to ask if someone will be kind enough to take time out on a Saturday to dig through their records?

Serious entitlement here, huh? Hey, she's in a hurry, guys: get off your butts and cough them up pronto!

This subject had been addressed in another thread which the OP started on Monday.

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

If you chose not to accept the answers given on Tuesday, why didn't you spend Wednesday through Friday contacting companies. That would have been five quick phone calls since every single one of them has employees answering the phones during normal business hours.

The question has been asked an answered as well....You don't need the EIN's to file.

Just approximate your income and amend your return later if you were off.

Geez guys I wasn't trying to be rude when I used the term "cough them up." I was merely trying to be a little humorous in relaying that I originally asked for the EINs and all I've I've gotten is tax advice. And as the for the comment about Monday's post, if you read this post thoroughly, you would have noticed that I wrote that this post was similar, but not the same. In the other post, I was asking for EINs of the companies that WOULD NOT be sending me 1099s. In this one, I wanted the ones for the companies that WOULD be sending them. In Monday's post, I was given the information that it was okay to list those as miscellaneous income and therefore would not need the EINs. That made perfect sense to me, so I said thanks and moved on. I'm not entirely sure the information I received here stating to put all income in miscellaneous is correct, and at any rate the tax program I am using wants them, so I want to enter them. My car was running fine on Monday as well, so the urgency wasn't there either. So, if I offended anyone, I apologize, that certainly wasn't my intent, but usually if someone posts a question asking what color the sky is, they aren't looking for a science lesson explaining the color spectrum and its role in making the sky blue.

Shawn,
All 1099s have to be mailed by January 30. Why not just wait for the mail. You cannot file before Jan 30 anyway! Also, you can go "around" that tax program's "need" and just enter amounts directly. This is NOT AN ISSUE worth your time.

shawnthewoman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Geez guys I wasn't trying to be rude when I used
> the term "cough them up." I was merely trying to
> be a little humorous in relaying that I originally
> asked for the EINs and all I've I've gotten is tax
> advice. And as the for the comment about Monday's
> post, if you read this post thoroughly, you would
> have noticed that I wrote that this post was
> similar, but not the same. In the other post, I
> was asking for EINs of the companies that WOULD
> NOT be sending me 1099s. In this one, I wanted
> the ones for the companies that WOULD be sending
> them. In Monday's post, I was given the
> information that it was okay to list those as
> miscellaneous income and therefore would not need
> the EINs. That made perfect sense to me, so I
> said thanks and moved on. I'm not entirely sure
> the information I received here stating to put all
> income in miscellaneous is correct, and at any
> rate the tax program I am using wants them, so I
> want to enter them. My car was running fine on
> Monday as well, so the urgency wasn't there
> either. So, if I offended anyone, I apologize,
> that certainly wasn't my intent, but usually if
> someone posts a question asking what color the sky
> is, they aren't looking for a science lesson
> explaining the color spectrum and its role in
> making the sky blue.

Shawn, thanks for your apology. I get that it was easier to ask here than contact the companies for the information you needed. Regardless of which companies you wanted EINs for, it would have required another forum member to go back to their tax info from last year or previous years and look it up for you. If it were me, I would have contacted the companies and done my own research. I guess the way it hit me was repeated requests for info and a joke about "coughing it up." My response joke would be "Go Fish." #which I didn't make at the time, because "go fish" is as rude as "cough it up."#

I had a discrepancy last year and it was kicked back 30 days after filed and I was told to fix it. My yearly income was less than $20K including my MS income. There are tax places that will give you an immediate loan against your refund (never done this but could be an option). Is there any way you could get a short term loan from your bank or a personal loan from family or friends to get your car fixed until you get your refund?

Be careful with IRS, they will come back to kick you in the behind and hit you up with interest and penalties

Let me put this another way: You don't need to enter the 1099's AT ALL. I know someone with an upholstery shop. They report this on a Schedule C. This shop does work for HUNDREDS of companies and most of them send a 1099. They don't enter a single 1099 on their return. They enter their total sales per the amounts in Quickbooks. (I asked her about this last year when I happened to be visiting her shop and saw the pile of 1099's on the desk -- still in unopened envelopes -- and asked her why she had never opened them.)

As long as the total on your return is equal to or greater than the SUM of all those 1099's, you will never hear a word about it from the IRS.

Can you imagine some tax preparer entering HUNDREDS or even THOUSANDS (for some businesses) of 1099's into a single tax return? Can you imagine what they would charge you?

It is still legal to file a tax return with pencil and paper. Go try to find a form where you would write all that information down if you were filing by pencil and paper. You won't find one because it doesn't exist. Just put down the total income you got on the right line and don't worry about it. The only people who need to worry about 1099's are the people who intend not to report anything that didn't get reported on one.

SteveSoCal -- did you have anything on your return that DIDN'T come from a 1099? Because if you didn't, that's how they caught you. If you have three 1099'2 for 800, 900, and 1050 and you enter then as 800, 900, and 1005 and there wasn't at least 45 in other income on the return THAT was how they caught you. All they can do is add up the 1099's that were issued and compare them to the total. If you didn't report at least that much income, you get a letter.

It happened to me once and it had nothing to do with the details of any of the 1099's. It had to do with one very large check that was reported because the company MAILED the check on the 31st and I didn't get it until several days into January. I reported the income I received, not the income they said they sent. I told the Irs that other $1200 check would be reported in the following year.

They were only asking about $400. I had had another $800 in non-1099 income on that schedule C. They didn't know I had under-reported that one 1099 by $1200. They just knew the total didn't match.

Since I've been mystery shopping, I've never listed the 1099's individually. I use my spreadsheet totals, which include everything. I haven't heard a word from the IRS about the 1099's.

itsasecret Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SteveSoCal -- did you have anything on your return
> that DIDN'T come from a 1099?

All of my income was reported to the IRS for that year. I only work for a dozen or so MSCs these days; 4 send me W-2's, one has a reimbursement only shop that I do regularly, and I made over $600 with every other company...so I had a pile of 1099's. I also receive a pile of 1099's in my main career and that's actually where the mistake happened. The one I botched was a relatively large number compared to my MS income, so it was easy to catch.

While the mistake should have been obvious to me when I was entering it, I believe it was probably midnight or so in mid-April that I was filing, in a rush, and really tired. The IRS was really nice about it in the end, so all is well that ends well.

I'm making an attempt to be more organized with tax prep this year. We'll see how that goes....