If supposed to be independent contractor, why the need for a SSN? Am I being overly concerned about identity theft?

@cruhl wrote:

If supposed to be independent contractor, why the need for a SSN? Am I being overly concerned about identity theft?

I think you are probably being overly concerned. I am registered with over 100 companies, and I have provided my SSN to all. So far none of them have stolen my identity.

Independent contractors are required to pay taxes just as employees. The reason you must provide a SSN is that the company is required to report payments made to independent contractors. If you prefer, you could get an EIN and provide that to companies instead of a SSN. Most MSCs will accept an EIN.

1) American businesses are not allowed to hire those who are not allowed to work in this country. Some do with farm or construction work and if they are caught the fines and penalties apply both to the business and the individual. Having a verifiable SSN is a protection to the employer whether it is day labor, independent contractor or employee.
2) Providing a verifiable SSN allows the MSC the assurance that you are you and not a person they deactivated already for cause.
3) Providing a verifiable SSN allows the MSC to have some measure of confidence that you aren't registered with them multiple times to avoid rotation requirements on shops.
4) Providing a verifiable SSN allows the MSC to have some measure of confidence that you aren't re-registering over and over in order to keep your annual earnings below the level at which a 1099 tax report.

Identity theft? Yes, there is a risk. But there is a risk with every single job application you put in, bank account you open, insurance policy you own, doctor's office you visit, credit card you apply for, cell phone contract you sign and on and on and on. At the present time I am being offered identity theft protection by the Department of Homeland Security because I was named as a reference on an application by a friend to work for the TSA because Homeland Security was hacked. I am offered identity theft protection by the facility that does my occasional bone density scans because the dumpster carrying their old paper records to secure destruction opened in traffic and my records and those of thousands of others were blown all over the roadway. I am offered identity theft by a retailer whose system got hacked. How many other places have been hacked or thrown away papers with my SSN or other personal data and have never even acknowledged it?

I am new aldo. In 1990's I did mystery shopping. I read to NOT give your SSN out!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2016 07:11PM by vernalea.

In 1990 there were significantly more lax federal regulations about who could work and who could not. Even then if you had approached the $600 mark you would have been required to provide your SSN. A year or so ago there was a company that announced they no longer wanted/needed SSNs until you approached $600 but they are the exception rather than the rule. Laws and requirements do change over time.

It is now significantly easier to determine that a particular SSN belongs to a particular individual and with faster, cheaper computing time it is easier for an MSP to determine whether a particular SSN has been used before by a shopper they have terminated or that a particular set of demographics have been submitted previously using a different SSN to avoid shoppers registering multiple times to avoid rotations.

Additionally, in the 1990 very few websites were secure. These days almost all companies offer secure websites to register.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2016 07:24PM by Flash.