Questions often arise regarding use of
ITIN's for tenant
screening background checks.
According to Internal Revenue
Service Publication 1915, "An ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number)
is a tax processing number, issued by the internal Revenue Service, for certain
resident and nonresident aliens, their spouses, and their dependents. It is a
nine-digit number beginning with the number “9”, has a range of numbers from
“70” to “88” for the fourth and fifth digits and is formatted like an SSN (i.e.
9XX-7X-XXXX)."
ITIN's are only available to
individuals who are required to have a taxpayer identification number for tax
purposes but who do not have, and are not eligible to obtain an SSN
from the Social Security Administration (SSA).
An ITIN:
1. Does not authorize work in the
U.S. or provide eligibility for Social Security Benefits or the Earned Income
Tax Credit.
2. Is not valid for
identification outside of the tax system or production of
tenant screening
reports.
3. Does not establish immigration
status.
According to the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS), ITIN's are strictly for tax processing. The IRS
does not apply the same standards as agencies that provide genuine identity
certification. People who apply for an ITIN are not required to apply in
person, and IRS does not further validate the authenticity of identity
documents. Some unethical credit repair companies advise clients who have an
SSN to apply for an ITIN and use it in place of their SSN (to hide derogatory
credit information), which is illegal. Therefore, ITIN's should not be
requested or accepted as identification for non tax purposes.
SSN's, as we all know, are useful
as a form of identification and for pulling credit - and in that way are useful
in the tenant screening
process. There is nothing wrong with
asking for SSN's in your application and denying tenancy when there is
fraudulent use of a voluntarily provided SSN. However, it is best not to
require an SSN (as a landlord) or take adverse action due to the lack of an SSN - as doing so
can put you at risk of a disparate impact discrimination claim.
Incidentally, while having a valid
and verifiable SSN materially increases the chance of locating and pulling an
individual's credit history, it is possible to pull credit by matching on
name, address and date of birth information. Just remember that ITIN's are not
SSN's and are of no value for pulling credit.
In summary, there is no practical
way to verify ITIN's. Nor are they useful for "pulling" credit. Therefore,
there is no place for ITIN collection and verification in your tenant screening
process or criteria.
Visit
MyScreeningReport.com® or contact us at
info@myscreeningreport.com for
additional information regarding
tenant screening products and processes. MyScreeningReport.com® is a
product of Moco Incorporated.