 The social security number as we do remember the IRS the government they see you as a number so you've got to get the number right if you don't get the number right then they won't see you you'll be like a ghost it won't be good so obviously if you don't put the proper social security number that will tie on and match to the name on the tax form you might not even be able to electronically file because it'll be kicked back the system will not recognize it if you send in something by mail that has an incorrect social security number that could delay the process could confuse the IRS and when the IRS is confused it delays the process it causes problems typically you want to avoid that so an incorrect or missing SS in which is social security number can increase your tax reduce your refund or delay your refund to apply for an SS in you can fill in form SS five you can find that on the IRS website you can search for it at irs.gov irs.gov and return it along with the appropriate evidence documents to the social security social security card the administration that's the ssa the social security administration another another government entity not the same as the irs but they're going to handle that type of identification information which of course the irs communicates with and will have and needs to line up when their processing the tax returns so you can get the form ss five online at ssa.gov forward slash forms forward slash ss five dot pdf so you can find that from your local ssa office social security administration office or by calling the ssa at eight hundred seven seven two one two one three it usually takes about two weeks to get an ssn once the ssa has all the evidence and information it needs i'll say so check that both the name and social security number on your form 1040 or 1040 sr w2 and 1099 agree with the social security card so note you've got your social security number and then you're going to get documentation from the people you work for and people that paid you typically that's going to be the w2 form the w2 form will have your name and social security number and the irs is going to have a copy of the w2 forms having the name and social security number on it as well and then also you're going to have the 1099s possibly depending on your circumstances which also have your name social security number the irs has a copy of that as well so ideally we have the same names and social security numbers on the tax return that we file as well as the w2 forms that were filed by our employer and the 1099 forms if they are not then that could cause confusion now obviously if you file the tax return with an incorrect social security number that doesn't match the name you might not even be able to electronically file so you'll see kind of the problem fairly immediately in that kind of situation or you could file and it'll confuse the irs if there's something different on your social security number then is on the supporting documentation from the irs like the w2s and the 1099s that could just you would think cause the irs to be confused with the w2s and the 1099s they might not tie that w2 to what you are filing meaning they don't have the supporting or backup information on their end to tie it to now that might not cause a problem because if you're reporting income that they don't have supporting document for then then they'll probably not going to stop you from recording income because you'll end up paying taxes on it but obviously if the reverse happened they had a w2 that you didn't report that's usually when you would expect it to cause more problems because then they're going to say that you had income that you did not report with that's going to cause concern on their end so in any case so if they don't certain deductions and credits on form 1040 or 1040 SR may be reduced or disallowed and you may not receive credit for your social security earnings so remember that's the other one that you just want to keep in mind that you're withholding usually we think about the income tax with the form 1040 that's what it's there for but the payroll taxes social security is important to make sure that that it's properly allocated to the right social security number and name so that you get the proper benefit calculations maximizing the benefits at retirement age for those items so if your form w2 shows an inaccurate social security number or name notify your employer or the form issuing agent as soon as possible to make sure your earnings are credited to your social security record so note again if you probably be able to file the tax return in that case and get your refund but if the w2 is not properly uh recorded in terms of the social security number name then you're not compiling the social security credit that you're paying into the program to get the maximum benefit so you want to make sure to correct that so if the name or social security number on your social security card is incorrect you can call the ssa