Account Titles & Social Security Numbers

by Ken Golliher
BIO AND CONTACT INFO

Many bankers believe that the name used in an account title must be exactly the same as the name appearing on the customer's Social Security card so the name and TIN will match with IRS records. They would not allow George W. Bush to open an account "G.W. Bush."

Actually, the IRS only uses the first four characters of the customer's surname to create the name control, they do not attempt to match the name completely. If they find those first four characters in the name control field in magnetic media or, alternatively they find them in sequence in the first two 40 character lines of the information return, they can match the information return to the customer's income tax return.

To get all the rules on how name controls are established, See the current version of IRS Publication 1220. It was published as Revenue Porcedure 2001-32 in the May 21 Internal Revnue Bulletin.

P.S. For other purposes,it is still a good idea to require that the account title be in the name shown on valid identification.

First published on BankersOnline.com 11/12/01