Background Checks Come To Colorado

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by HokiePaul

How would the person get paid? I know different places do things differently, but I imaging all sorts of problems come tax time if my W-2 from officiating didn't match my real name.

That's funny. Think this through all the way.

Joe Smith applies for officiating as John Doe.
Joe Smith gets regular W2 from his regular job as Joe Smith.
John Doe's W2 goes ... somewhere. Joe Smith doesn't care, and certainly doesn't include it in his taxes.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

That's funny. Think this through all the way.

Joe Smith applies for officiating as John Doe.
Joe Smith gets regular W2 from his regular job as Joe Smith.
John Doe's W2 goes ... somewhere. Joe Smith doesn't care, and certainly doesn't include it in his taxes.

Exactly. I had exactly one 1099 this year, no W2s. Even if Joe Smith claimed all the income on his taxes, he wouldn't need to show the 1099s or W2s to prove anything.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

That's funny. Think this through all the way.

Joe Smith applies for officiating as John Doe.
Joe Smith gets regular W2 from his regular job as Joe Smith.
John Doe's W2 goes ... somewhere. Joe Smith doesn't care, and certainly doesn't include it in his taxes.

First off...neither one is likely to be getting a W-2 for their officiating work. A 1099 is far more likely and only if they get more than $600 from any one source. Joe could even still comply with IRS laws by paying the taxes on the income he really received even if it was not properly attributed to him. He may have violated some IRS regulation here but the IRS mostly cares about whether they got the money or not. If he paid, they're not likely to do much to him if they ever found out.

Secondly, someone could be doing this now. However, unless Joe Smith knows John Doe's SSN, this will get flagged pretty quickly when the organization files their 1099's with the IRS when the provided SSN doesn't match the name that is submitted with it. They might get away with it for one year until the taxes are submitted but that's it. Assuming Joe Smith does know John Doe's SSN, John Doe might face a little grief when the IRS comes looking into why he didn't claim income that an organization said they paid him. But once he proves it wasn't him that received the income, he'll be fine.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

First off...neither one is likely to be getting a W-2 for their officiating work. A 1099 is far more likely and only if they get more than $600 from any one source. Joe could even still comply with IRS laws by paying the taxes on the income he really received even if it was not properly attributed to him. He may have violated some IRS regulation here but the IRS mostly cares about whether they got the money or not. If he paid, they're not likely to do much to him if they ever found out.

Secondly, someone could be doing this now. However, unless Joe Smith knows John Doe's SSN, this will get flagged pretty quickly when the organization files their 1099's with the IRS when the provided SSN doesn't match the name that is submitted with it. They might get away with it for one year until the taxes are submitted but that's it. Assuming Joe Smith does know John Doe's SSN, John Doe might face a little grief when the IRS comes looking into why he didn't claim income that an organization said they paid him. But once he proves it wasn't him that received the income, he'll be fine.

This all assumes that an official gets at least $600 from one source. Now, I didn't have a single school pay me $600 last year, but I still got a 1099 from refpay since several schools use it to pay.

The requirement to use refpay puts a bit of a crimp in the plan if someone wants to create a fake identity to officiate; but I'm sure it could be worked around by an ambitiously twisted individual.

[HokiePaul]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

That's funny. Think this through all the way.

Joe Smith applies for officiating as John Doe.
Joe Smith gets regular W2 from his regular job as Joe Smith.
John Doe's W2 goes ... somewhere. Joe Smith doesn't care, and certainly doesn't include it in his taxes.

Good point. If you're using a fake name, I guess paying taxes properly is pretty low on your list of priorities.

[BktBallRef]

Two years ago, the NCHSAA contracted with a company in Raleigh to begin performing background checks on all officials, employees and other individuals interested in working with the association. The database is run every night so they will discover as soon as possible if any official is convicted of a sex offense or a felony.

Until I saw this thread, I had truly forgotten all about it. I guess one reason is I don't have to do a thing. They handle everything. I think our annual dues went up $10.