Background Checks Come To Colorado

[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.