TL;DR My apologies to my international readers, but this edition’s opening section really only applies to my readers from the USA. Maybe your county has an equivalent program that you should get smarter on. Or maybe you should just jump down to read the rest of the awesome sections.
Yep, I have known about the SSN website for a long time - unfortunately because I freelanced for decades as a Line Producer and functioned as an IC, I did not qualify for disability when I was diagnosed with MS. Serious bummer, and ultimately is the reason that has led me to this work from home bookkeeping situation. - May I suggest a topic for a podcast or blog? Nothing to do with systems, I am exclusively QBO so not familiar with Freshbooks, but something came up during "1099" season this year that is a huge can of worms. Did you know that you can have an EIN number as a SP? Also, that most people who have SMLLC's are filling out their W9 incorrectly? They are misunderstanding the instructions from the IRS because it says you can use your EIN, but NOT if that EIN is attached to your LLC disregarded entity, in that instance you should be using your SSN. You can only use the EIN if you have one as a Sole Proprietor. It is totally backwards, and crazy, but this is how it is truly supposed to be filled out. Most people are not aware of this and if they have made themselves a SMLLC, they just use their EIN number, when it is actually supposed to be the SSN. This came to my attention from one of the Accountants I work with, who are in the middle of an audit right now where the IRS has latched on to them for "wrong info on 1099's". Apparently, it is up to the company who issues the 1099 to be sure the info is correct and NOT at fault for the person who has provided the incorrect info. It is a mess and seems quite unfair. I had a hell of a time during 1099 season this year because of this. I had to go through all the SMLLC's and contact them and ask them to change their w9. Some were thankful that I pointed out the mistake, talked to their own accountants about it, and made the change for me, but others were VERY resistant to want to change it to their SSN, even though I was proving to them that it was the correct way to do it. Like I said, big can of worms opened. Would love to see bookkeepers educating other bookkeepers about this as I was unaware myself that you could have an EIN as a SP, so that is where the majority of the confusion was with the way they have the instructions laid out. They REALLY should separate the first box on the W9.
This - "It made me think about business owners that I talk to who utilize their spouses/boyfriends/girlfriends (mostly wives and girlfriends, let’s be honest) for all sorts of unpaid labor and how those ladies might have a big, fat $0 for those years in their Social Security portal. That feels wrong to me. Since I do a lot of bookkeeping training in my business now, I talk to a lot of women who are “doing the books” for a man. I wonder how I can start to use my position to advise them about how it is important that the government has a record that they have worked and paid into Social Security." is why our business is paying hubs through Gusto even though we will incur fees. He doesn't need more social security credits, but it's what I would do if I were to have a contractor outside of my family working in our business.
Yep, I have known about the SSN website for a long time - unfortunately because I freelanced for decades as a Line Producer and functioned as an IC, I did not qualify for disability when I was diagnosed with MS. Serious bummer, and ultimately is the reason that has led me to this work from home bookkeeping situation. - May I suggest a topic for a podcast or blog? Nothing to do with systems, I am exclusively QBO so not familiar with Freshbooks, but something came up during "1099" season this year that is a huge can of worms. Did you know that you can have an EIN number as a SP? Also, that most people who have SMLLC's are filling out their W9 incorrectly? They are misunderstanding the instructions from the IRS because it says you can use your EIN, but NOT if that EIN is attached to your LLC disregarded entity, in that instance you should be using your SSN. You can only use the EIN if you have one as a Sole Proprietor. It is totally backwards, and crazy, but this is how it is truly supposed to be filled out. Most people are not aware of this and if they have made themselves a SMLLC, they just use their EIN number, when it is actually supposed to be the SSN. This came to my attention from one of the Accountants I work with, who are in the middle of an audit right now where the IRS has latched on to them for "wrong info on 1099's". Apparently, it is up to the company who issues the 1099 to be sure the info is correct and NOT at fault for the person who has provided the incorrect info. It is a mess and seems quite unfair. I had a hell of a time during 1099 season this year because of this. I had to go through all the SMLLC's and contact them and ask them to change their w9. Some were thankful that I pointed out the mistake, talked to their own accountants about it, and made the change for me, but others were VERY resistant to want to change it to their SSN, even though I was proving to them that it was the correct way to do it. Like I said, big can of worms opened. Would love to see bookkeepers educating other bookkeepers about this as I was unaware myself that you could have an EIN as a SP, so that is where the majority of the confusion was with the way they have the instructions laid out. They REALLY should separate the first box on the W9.
This - "It made me think about business owners that I talk to who utilize their spouses/boyfriends/girlfriends (mostly wives and girlfriends, let’s be honest) for all sorts of unpaid labor and how those ladies might have a big, fat $0 for those years in their Social Security portal. That feels wrong to me. Since I do a lot of bookkeeping training in my business now, I talk to a lot of women who are “doing the books” for a man. I wonder how I can start to use my position to advise them about how it is important that the government has a record that they have worked and paid into Social Security." is why our business is paying hubs through Gusto even though we will incur fees. He doesn't need more social security credits, but it's what I would do if I were to have a contractor outside of my family working in our business.