ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) (08/23/85)
> For those of you that think this is an invasion of privacy, well, >no harm can come of anyone knowing your social sec. no..... here's why Oh really? Suppose I got your name, address, and SSN, and mailed an anonymouse letter to Infernal Revenue to the effect that you were failing to report $50,000 a year in illegal income. Do you think that would be harmless?
ccs009@ucdavis.UUCP (Dennis Michaels) (08/29/85)
> > For those of you that think this is an invasion of privacy, well, > >no harm can come of anyone knowing your social sec. no..... here's why > > Oh really? Suppose I got your name, address, and SSN, and mailed > an anonymouse letter to Infernal Revenue to the effect that you were > failing to report $50,000 a year in illegal income. Do you think that > would be harmless? Yes, As far as I know, the IRS does not accept anonymous tips, and if they accepted a name with a tip off they will investigate the person initiating the allegations first to see what evidence he/she has for the allegations. Furthermore, they will notify the alleged purpetrator of the evasion to the effect that they will be audited ( if the prelim. invest of charges pans out) if the IRS audits the person, he has several possible actions: 1. He submits to the audit, bringing in his vital documents to substant- iate his 1040. 2. His taxpreparer will accompany him to explain the return, 3. Hop on a banana boat for Jamaica under an assumed name to hide. HOWEVER... if the audit proves to be unsubtiated on the basis of the tip, the IRS can come back at the person giving the tip, and the person audited can be held liable for any wages lost, wages of the taxpreparers lost, the cost of the audit, and probably a hefty legal bill for personal damages, court costs and for not being a nice person..... besides, the IRS has better things to do with the thousand inquiries and audits it performs each tax year...... "He has nothing to hide has nothing to hide..." -me "Be not so quick to stab in the back before looking over your shoulder." -me again ` -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dennis Michaels @ University of California, Davis ...ucbvax!ucdavis!harpo!ccs009 * * * U.S.Mail: 609 Anderson Rd # 151 * * * * Davis , CA 95616 * * * ** * _________ ___^___ . * ** * * * * * . \________| ==_______== * * @ * ** * ** \\ / /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* @KB@ * ** * . \\___/_/_ . * * * @* * * . /_______|-( * * * * *
peter@baylor.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (08/29/85)
> Oh really? Suppose I got your name, address, and SSN, and mailed > an anonymouse letter to Infernal Revenue to the effect that you were > failing to report $50,000 a year in illegal income. Do you think that > would be harmless? What if I just got your name & address and did the same thing? The objection to using the SS# for other things is because it is not supposed to be a universal ID#. When it was first instituted there was a lot of talk about how the SS# would turn into a universal ID. Apparently there's some sort of mechanism in the appropriate act to prevent this... any lawyers out there? -- Peter (Made in Australia) da Silva UUCP: ...!shell!neuro1!{hyd-ptd,baylor,datafac}!peter MCI: PDASILVA; CIS: 70216,1076
dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman) (08/30/85)
In article <4195@alice.UUCP> ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) writes: >> For those of you that think this is an invasion of privacy, well, >>no harm can come of anyone knowing your social sec. no..... here's why > >Oh really? Suppose I got your name, address, and SSN, and mailed >an anonymouse letter to Infernal Revenue to the effect that you were >failing to report $50,000 a year in illegal income. Do you think that >would be harmless? There are reasons for not letting the world know your SSN (in Canada: SIN), but that isn't one of them. If you want to cause trouble for someone by writing to the Internal Revenue Service (in Canada: Revenue Canada, Taxation) and accusing the individual of failing to report income, it would hardly matter whether you included that person's SSN (SIN). Do you really think that, given a name and address, the authorities can't find your file? Dave Sherman (spouse of a Revenue Canada auditor) The Law Society of Upper Canada Toronto -- { ihnp4!utzoo pesnta utcs hcr decvax!utcsri } !lsuc!dave
clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis) (09/10/85)
In article <576@baylor.UUCP> peter@baylor.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: >> Oh really? Suppose I got your name, address, and SSN, and mailed >> an anonymouse letter to Infernal Revenue to the effect that you were >> failing to report $50,000 a year in illegal income. Do you think that >> would be harmless? > >What if I just got your name & address and did the same thing? > >The objection to using the SS# for other things is because it is not >supposed to be a universal ID#. When it was first instituted there >was a lot of talk about how the SS# would turn into a universal ID. >Apparently there's some sort of mechanism in the appropriate act to >prevent this... any lawyers out there? There is a federal statute, instated about 5-7 years ago, that FORBIDS the refusal of "Govt. social services" to applicants that refuse to give their SSN. I'm not sure whether private companies or things like automobile registration are included under the statute. It might be in your freedom of information act. [Even though I'm Canadian, I ran into discussions of this US law during research on a Ontario Govt. Royal Commission.] -- Chris Lewis, UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!clewis BELL: (416)-475-8980 ext. 321