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I screwed up royally on Friday


MickinMD

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Short version:

I had a Friday appointment at the Maryland Motor Vehicle Admin. office to renew my driver's license and get a Real-ID.  I realized hours before I had misplaced in some obscure spot or mistakenly thrown out my needed proof of Soc.Sec., my card.  Despite much effort, I failed to get anything new and had to reschedule on Oct. 3rd. That's 2 days after my driver's license expires but it's ok because there's a year's grace period in effect now.

Saga version:

I had an 11:15 am Friday appointment at the MVA office in Annapolis to finally get my Real-ID drivers license.

One of the ID-things I had to bring was proof of Social Security Number: an original Soc.Sec. Card or a W2 or 1099 form with my Soc.Sec. number on it.

When I made the appointment, I checked and made sure I had the card - which was very slightly wrinkled at an edge from my went-swimming-with-my-wallet episode from July 4th, but was still in excellent shape.

Thursday evening I checked all the stuff I needed to take and put it in a big envelope.

I had trouble sleeping, got up around 4:30 am, and remembered I hadn't checked for my Social Security Card - which I always kept in my wallet.

It was not there!  I looked through everything in the wallet 4x to make sure it wasn't stuck to another card. etc.

I then spent the next 5 hours looking everywhere in my house and car. I must have put it on the table next to my recliner then tossed it out by mistake when cleaning the table. I had no W2's or 1099's because I had done my taxes before the March house fire. I did have an IRS refund check but, of course, no Soc.Sec. number on it.  Virtually all my receipts, etc. are done by email only and everything today tries to avoid listing your Soc.Sec.No.

Finally, I realized the county Board of Ed. headquarters, who I served as a teacher, was a few minutes away from the MVA in Annapolis.  I'd get there about 10 am and hope there were enough people working in the building to print out for me a 2006 W2 copy within an hour and certify on it that it was printed that day (I needed docs less than 18 months old).  The people there are always very helpful to retired teachers and I figured they'd go out of their way to do it quick for me.

But, I got to the Board of Ed and it was closed.  Not a car on the huge lot (this is for the county-wide, 35th largest school system in the USA and there are normally 200 cars in the lot at 10 am Fri).  Apparently they're either closed on Fri. or open later.

No one answered the "ring bell for assistance." So, since I was a few minutes drive from the MVA, I decided to keep my appointment and see if I could b.s. my way into getting the Real-ID without proof of Soc.Sec.: which having been a teacher in the county and recipient of a state teachers pension I clearly had.

No luck.  The person you get to who checks your documents had NO idea exactly what I needed, didn't realize that the online info said a 1099 document was ok, etc, and couldn't tell me much - except I wasn't getting a Real-ID that day and she couldn't set up a new appointment for me.

So I went back to the apartment and immediately set up a new appointment ASAP.  It's on Oct. 3rd - two days after my MD Driver's License expires.  Fortunately, there's 1 year grace period in effect now where you can drive on your expired license in MD before getting a new one.  Fortunately, I'm not planning any travel this year.

Oct. 3 is a Saturday, which means the lines may be longer, but you can't go to the Annap. MVA Office without an appointment (there's a big sign out front) so I should be ok.

Then I ordered a new Social Security card.  The order page asked, "Do you really need a new card - almost every business can instantly determine your Social Security number."

Yeah - except the Maryland Motor Vehicle Admin.  For proof of Soc.Sec. I need one of the following:

1979367717_ProofofSocialSecurityPossibilities.JPG.4d22b1255c6005688b757007341fa540.JPG

I had to use my driver's license as an ID to get Soc.Sec (online) to mail a new card, which meant I had to have them mail it to my burnt out home's address - I checked to make sure the Post Office forwards Soc.Sec. mail and they do.

So the 10-14 days the Soc.Sec. site said it should take to get the card plus TEN days for forwarding is 20-24 days and my new appointment was in 42 days so I should be allright.

I realized, today, I can request Soc.Sec. to mail a new 1099 - I downloaded the pdf file version which, when printed out on my sister's or brother's printer, would be indistinguishable from one mailed by Soc.Sec. - unless there's a watermark in the paper, so I requested a mailed version today.  They say I'll have it by 9/1 which means forwarded by 9/11 to my apartment - I checked to make sure the Post Office forwards Soc.Sec. mail and the website doesn't offer an alternative mailing address choice:

1370277236_SSAForm10992019mailrequestconfirmation.thumb.JPG.fcef750b32f5739ec5a730e83d669269.JPG

I also downloaded the "Social Security Online Verification Letter." It does NOT list my Soc.Sec. No. anywhere!  It lists my Medicare #, how much my benefit and deductions are, etc. etc. No Soc.Sec.No.!

To make sure I have a backup if Soc.Sec. is too slow and doesn't get either the card or 1099 to me on time, I decided to check every place that sends me a 1099 form.

I checked the Maryland State Teacher's Pension and learned I can download my 1099R form as a pdf file.  But for my Soc.Sec. it begins with "xxx-xx" and then just my last 4 digits. That's true for mailed versions as well, "Note that we do send the IRS your complete Social Security number."

I then checked my T. Rowe Price Fund Account for my 1099 for 2019 distributions and my Soc.Sec. begins with "xxx-xx" there, too.

Finally, I checked the DRIP's I have at Computershare and the 1099-DIV's for Abbott Labs, Home Depot, Costco, etc. all have my complete Soc.Sec. No.  though it lists it as "TIN" - Taxpayer ID No.  They are all pdf files with company stationary headings and are indistinguishable from mailed stuff if printed out.

I have EVERYTHING else in the big envelope - actually one of those about 12" x 16" padded mailing envelopes Amazon sends small stuff in.

So I hope I'll be ready for bear on Sat. Oct. 3.
 

 

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I was caught in the redundancy loop when I tried to get my I-9. It wanted either my SS card -which I lost years ago or my birth certificate, which I don’t know if I ever had.

To get a new SS card, I needed....a birth certificate. <_<

Ended up having to get a new birth certificate from NJ. Took three weeks. In the meantime, I had to hope my new employer was gracious enough to hold the position until I had gotten the paperwork straightened out.

In the meantime, SO says “Y’know, I don’t have my birth certificate either, I should get it”. She had it a week later. Time must move much slower in NJ than it does in NY.

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9 minutes ago, F_in Ray Of Sunshine said:

I was caught in the redundancy loop when I tried to get my I-9. It wanted either my SS card -which I lost years ago or my birth certificate, which I don’t know if I ever had.

To get a new SS card, I needed....a birth certificate. <_<

Ended up having to get a new birth certificate from NJ. Took three weeks. In the meantime, I had to hope my new employer was gracious enough to hold the position until I had gotten the paperwork straightened out.

In the meantime, SO says “Y’know, I don’t have my birth certificate either, I should get it”. She had it a week later. Time must move much slower in NJ than it does in NY.

I once needed a birth certificate ASAP and had to go to the State Office.  It took a couple hours wait, but I got it that day.  I should order a new one by mail - the other was lost in the house fire - and it will probably take weeks.

I ran into a similar redundancy loop when I was the executor of my mother's estate.  She had a $25,000 IRA at a bank.  The bank would not release information about the account or beneficiaries to me unless I had a letter from the Register of Wills.  The Register of Wills would not give me the letter unless I had a letter from the bank informing them of the existence of the IRA, account no., etc.

I finally talked someone at the Reg. of Wills into giving me a letter of some kind that solved the problem, but I had been going back and forth for a couple weeks.

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