Posts by Kyle Rogers8

Ethan Mitchell4 said:No, the confirmation popped up saying it was processed after just half an hour. I even printed out the receipt for my records, and it shows the date as February 23rd.

Half an hour 😲 👍
with my claims, if it’s under two business days (usually three), nothing has been processed yet
which is why I'm sending mine in early 😍

Ethan Mitchell4 said:Thanks so much—I followed your instructions today and everything went through smoothly.

So, yours hasn't been processed yet, right?
I guess I’m just stuck "on hold" until the actual date listed as my termination day
(that was the only point I could actually pull the confirmation showing the cancellation was final)

amberbadger17 said:Kyle Rogers8, looks like you're a total pro at this.

I don’t have any employees yet, but I’ll be hiring pretty soon. My godmother even gave me her credit card to get things moving.

So, when I'm sending over the access authorization for the electronic health portal, everything makes sense except for that part about digital signing via email. What does that actually mean in practice?

Also, if anyone happens to know where the link for the electronic pension portal access form is, please help a girl out. Either I'm blind or just plain clumsy. There are a million instructions and explanations on their site about what their form looks like, but where the heck is the actual link?????????????

😁 I'm not really feeling it either—not quite.

It’s been ages since I handled the onboarding paperwork for my own company—back when the rules were completely different. Honestly, I have no clue how the process works now. I've been using the online portals for healthcare and Social Security for years, so if you're stuck on the initial enrollment or cancellation steps, I might be able to point you in the right direction. But this specific part? I'm lost.

Ethan Mitchell4 said:I have a quick question regarding de-registering an employee from Social Security. This person is working through Friday (Feb 21st), and I’d like to set their end date as Sunday to ensure there isn't a gap in their service history—meaning, effective Feb 23rd.
Since that falls on a Sunday, can I just take care of this on Friday?

I'm basing this on the information found on the Social Security Administration website:

We note that e-filings can be submitted to the Agency up to seven days in advance to mitigate such issues. Processing for these received filings, and the associated deadlines, begins on the day the insured individual's status changes (the date of acquisition or termination of coverage).

Has anyone here tried filing an employee's termination early? I don't want to mess anything up.

I forgot to mention—every time I call the lady at the SSA office, she refuses to give me any actual information. She just keeps telling me everything is listed on their website; she won't even budge on a single detail. My conclusion is that they simply have no clue what they're doing, though maybe that's not it. I just don't understand why they would be so unhelpful.

I've tried it—works perfectly fine without any errors. 🙂

redcrane22 said:Man, Joe Biden, there's no way someone working in the field like me is actually seeing those kinds of perks. Someone please set the record straight for me.😁

What I really want to understand is how these discounts actually show up on the policy itself. Like, does it lower the coverage amount, reduce the passenger insurance value, or does it just not show up at all? As far as I know, standard stuff is just the bonus or maybe a 5% cash discount, and that's pretty much it. You definitely don't want to end up issuing some weirdly discounted policy without knowing where the math came from—that's how you end up with a voided policy if something goes wrong.
I’d love it if someone could just shoot me a DM with an example of what a policy like that looks like, so I can see what we're talking about.

Brian Wright56 said:I'm not sure how they handle it. On my paperwork, it lists the actual vehicle value and says me and all the passengers are covered... then the price shows $647. Back in August 2013, I paid $1,740 over six installments, and by November, the guy told me I would have paid $500 for that exact same policy. That's the deal.

@Brian Wright56,
is it possible that the difference between what you paid and the policy total is just the AO tax?

That's exactly what happened to me—everything looked fine on the paperwork, but they demanded I pay the amount excluding tax.
Then, a few months later, 😍—surprise!—I get a collection notice from a massive corporation in the mail claiming the policy was never paid. Not even the tax, nothing. I call the guy I actually paid... he tells me "he'll take care of it"... meanwhile, I'm getting a legal threat for the full amount. I call the company, and it turns out they finally processed the payment I made back in August—but the tax is still sitting there as a debt. They promised to fix it. It seems like they've done this to plenty of people—giving discounts equal to the AO tax and then failing to link them to the payments properly 🤷
I had two policies handled this way last year—one went through fine, but the other one left me with a massive headache.🙂

Timothy Morgan38 said:Can someone who’s actually been through this nightmare walk me through the exact process for registering with the IRS and Medicare...

- I already registered with the IRS and set up a quick filing profile for my firm, which went fine enough
- I filled out the IRS authorization forms for my clients and added myself as the authorized representative for them...
- I also filled out the Medicare authorization forms and listed myself as the one handling things for them

Questions:
1. On an IRS authorization form, can I list, say, five different clients and then name myself as the person managing all of them, or am I stuck filling out a separate form for every single client?

2. Who actually signs the IRS authorization? Is it the client, the accounting firm, or both?

3. Besides the authorization form, what else needs to be brought to the IRS? Some guy on a toll-free help line told me the form was all I needed, but now I'm reading online about powers of attorney, tax IDs, official rulings, and other nonsense...

4. What do I put for the business tax ID number on the Medicare authorization form? I can't find it anywhere... Is it something like 58222.1.1 ???

5. What else does Medicare require along with the authorization form?

Now, regarding hiring and firing employees...
1. What documentation is required for reporting to the IRS, and how exactly is it submitted?
2. What documentation is required for reporting to Medicare, and what's the protocol there?

If some kind soul could clear this up for me, I'd appreciate it...😁

Maybe you can have multiple clients listed on a single access sheet—I guess it depends on how you're setting things up.

Who actually signs the access form for the Social Security Administration? Is it the client or the accounting firm? Or maybe both?

Accounting—just accounting. (To be more specific: the authorized representative for the company receiving the power of attorney, plus that company's official seal—which is usually just the accounting firm.)

What else do I actually need to bring to the Social Security Administration besides the access list? Some guy on the toll-free help line told me that the list was all I’d need—nothing else—but now I'm reading stuff online about needing powers of attorney, various official decisions, and other paperwork. What's the deal?

They told me over the phone this morning—get the decision on opening a business and power of attorney. Apparently, I don't need the other paperwork. Or maybe I do? They were pretty blunt about it.

What am I supposed to enter for the Financial Center card number on this Medicare access form? I’ve been looking everywhere and I can't find that number to save my life—it’s nowhere. Is it maybe that other number, for example? 58222.1.1

That’s the number.

What else do I need to bring to Medicare along with the initial application form?

That’s it—nothing else. Just the application form.

The whole situation regarding onboarding and offboarding employees—it’s a mess.
What documents am I supposed to attach to my application for the Social Security Administration—and more importantly, how exactly am I supposed to file it?
What documents am I supposed to attach to my application for Medicare—and what's the actual process for getting it done?

I guess I’m hoping some kind soul out there can actually make sense of this—could someone please clarify? 😁

For standard check-ins or sign-offs, you don't actually need to do anything—it's handled. If you want to double-check, just look at the bottom of any M_P document; there’s a tab for mandatory documentation right there. I guess it might be required for professional training programs... maybe.

2. There’s also a tab in the app that breaks down exactly which documents you need for what—basically, it's the same old routine. You just scan the same paperwork you used to hand over at the local service center:
application: contract, ID, M1P
cancellation: termination notice, M2P
updates: depends on what exactly is changing...

Kate Brown49 said:thanks, Kyle Rogers8...
so that access form you have to fill out and bring to the office just to get into the online portal has a few sections:
1. employers
2. users
3. date and location
4. save
5. print
-Under "employers," it lets you enter one and then add more, so I guess maybe that's where you put the registered employees?
-Then under "users," you're supposed to type in a name and hit search, but I honestly have no clue who I'm actually looking for here. If anyone else has dealt with this form, maybe you know what I'm talking about. You can click through those sections on the link above, which might make it slightly clearer.

Anyway, thanks a million for the help.

Unless someone who actually filled out the new access form shows up...

I'm thinking the "user" or "users" refers to whoever the corporate card is issued to—it can be multiple people per company, though in my case, it's just me.
That's how it worked on the old access sheet.

Kate Brown49 said:Could use a little 🙈 help here. I’m pretty lost on this whole Social Security thing. We run a small business with 7 employees, so does that mean we have to start filing all the enrollments and terminations electronically starting April 1st?
The part I don't get is,

1) Can I just handle these filings myself, or is that something the accounting firm needs to take over?
2) If I am doing the enrollments/terminations personally, how do I fill out the access form , specifically

A) What goes under "taxpayers"—do I list every single employee?
B) What do I put for "users"—what kind of name searcher is that supposed to be?

Sorry for being so clueless. Believe me, I’ve read the Social Security Administration website a bunch of times already, but I’m still totally confused.

1. You can do it yourself—it doesn't have to be the accountants,

but, if you want to go solo, you'll need a business credit card—if you don't have one yet, expect an extra cost of about $17/month.

If the accounting firm handles it, I assume they'll charge you for that too.

You just have to weigh which option works better for you.

2. I don't know/don't quite follow the question—the taxpayer is definitely the business owner, not the employees. Beyond that, I'm not sure.

Ethan Mitchell4 said:Oh, come on... 🙂 🙂
Wait, if I understood you correctly, you're saying you need to have 2007 Office installed (which, luckily or unluckily, I actually do right now) just to send them an email through Microsoft?

What if I use Live Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird? Am I forced to have Microsoft just for them?

Or did I get all that mixed up?

I think what silverbadger is talking about is a one-time thing—it's just for activating a card with Medicare.

Raymond Martinez10 said:How am I supposed to file an electronic pension claim if the employee didn't bring their employment records—which they aren't even required to provide—and I have no way of finding their Social Security number? Furthermore, how am I expected to track down their total years of service for past employment?

The only fix is to tell the worker to show up in person—because around here, sending a proxy just doesn't fly—so they can get their own username and password (assuming they've filled out the request first). Then, either they pull the data themselves or I print out whatever info I need for them.

Is there actually a faster, less painful way to do this? 🤷

The old employment records 🙂

are still public documents—they serve as proof for everything recorded in them

I ask everyone to bring either their old files or their digital HR profile—and everyone brings the old ones

All the data needed for onboarding is right there (you also need proof of graduation—which is usually in those old files too). Of course, it’ll get harder eventually—we'll deal with diplomas that aren't logged or years of service that have to be manually tallied from various certificates... but until then, maybe the federal payroll systems will actually become useful so more workers have their info ready to go

silverbadger said:I was looking through the technical requirements for Medicare, and I have to ask—why on earth do they say we need a scanner? It’s not like we’re actually going to be filling out paper forms, signing them, stamping them with a physical seal, and then scanning them just to email them over, right?
I’m assuming they’ve already smoothed those kinks out with the IRS and the digital tax systems, because if you actually have to scan an application, that isn't a technological upgrade; it’s just a giant leap backward into the dark ages.
To give you an idea of how things work around here, a clerk at my local clinic wouldn't even attempt to process my application through the online portal; he just told me, "Better bring that in when you head down to Indianapolis." After I spent a good amount of time being a bit more vocal and persuasive with him, he finally decided to check in with the main office in Indianapolis and managed to get everything processed for me.

You don't need to scan the actual application form, but you do need to scan all those supporting documents you'd normally carry for enrollment or termination:
mostly for hiring employees: like the employment contract and ID,
for terminations: the resignation letter,
etc...

The online portal has instructions regarding which documentation is required based on the type of action (enrollment/termination/change), and whether it’s an employee or a dependent family member... though it still claims you need to send a work history booklet, but it goes through fine without it lately.😉

Now, during the early days of these electronic filings, you basically had to send the same scanned docs to the Social Security Administration too. The real headache was that SSA demanded JPG format, while Medicare wanted PDF.
Since last year, the SSA started accepting PDFs,
and since January 1, 2014, you barely have to send any supporting documents at all for standard employee enrollments/terminations...

I wonder if Medicare will adapt to that (I assume they have to change some law or regulation first) 🤷 , but until then, you definitely need a scanner.

Nicole Lee6 said:If a user holds a BlackRock business certificate issued after March 11, 2013, they can utilize the fast-track registration process without needing to fill out or submit a manual access authorization form.

Now, I'm not entirely certain, but I'm fairly sure our certificate arrived back in February 2013. If that's the case, it looks like I'll be stuck manually printing out all those application forms again.😬

I don't know which you'd prefer—strolling around or being stuck in an office 😁

But if I were you, I'd try doing it online first. My corporate card was issued in 2008 and I'm pretty sure it has all the necessary Tax IDs attached—maybe yours does too.

Ethan Mitchell4 said:So, I called BlackRock today. Apparently, you have to fill out an access form on their website (I'd drop the link, but I'm told I'm not allowed to), then mail it in after signing it, and finally take it to the nearest BlackRock office within seven days. That’s supposedly all there is to it—they process it on their end, and then you should have access. That applies to people who already have a premium card; others probably have to go out and get one first.
Nobody mentioned anything to me about powers of attorney, notary seals, or registration.

I haven't looked into the healthcare side of things yet; they aren't usually quite that strict.

Hmm, that's how it used to be.

Now, according to the SSA site, if you have a digital certificate, you can just register yourself online—no need to actually show up at a Social Security office.

Quick registration.

If you want to do this for other businesses—say, an accounting firm doing it for clients—you still have to bring a power of attorney from the client along with the access form to the Social Security office (plus the client's registration)—it can't be done online.

With Medicare, you just bring (or mail) their specific access form—that acts as the power of attorney—but you don't need to worry about business registration.

Frank Nelson2 said:So many businesses are getting crushed right now simply because their bank accounts are frozen. I mean, how are they supposed to pay their suppliers if a single creditor can lock everything down just over $333? It’s a disaster that leads to broken contracts, lost deals, and a total wipeout of trust. Half the time, there are actually legitimate reasons why a debt exists, and in those situations, settling the full amount is usually just a few months away, but only if the account actually stays active.

There are ways to deal with frozen accounts, but nobody seems to know about them. Honestly, the lawmakers aren't going to get any smarter or more resourceful than the entrepreneurs trying to navigate this mess.

🤣 It’s actually quite simple

Just deposit enough cash into the frozen account to cover what you owe your
suppliers—plus $333 the ones who caused the freeze (oh, and include those legal enforcement fees, maybe $200-$$133). Problem solved. The account gets unfrozen that same day or by the next business day at the latest

There are ways out for those with frozen accounts, but people just don't know them. The legislature isn't—and frankly, will never be—any smarter or more resourceful than savvy entrepreneurs.

Yeah, well—they should just pay their debts, or shut down and stop dragging their other creditors into the mess

It seems to me some people here think an account freeze is some weird, permanent state of being. Like the entire issue is just that the account status doesn't say "active" anymore, but instead says "frozen."

The whole system of freezing accounts—or rather, forced collection, since it doesn't even have to reach a full freeze—is there so creditors don't get played for fools. For instance, some would buy supplies from Supplier A until they racked up a massive debt, then "elegantly" switch over to Supplier B.
And the fact that Supplier A can forcibly collect what they're owed to save their own business is somehow considered a bad thing?

The link in the original post taught us that "in Europe," this isn't called "forced collection from a debtor's account," but rather "placing a lien on the debtor's movable and immovable assets"—and honestly, what's the difference?

Brenda Chase3 said:I’m looking for some guidance regarding the electronic health insurance portal. For about two years now, we’ve been using our firm’s credentials—essentially the electronic registration and tax filing systems for our clients, since we run an accounting firm. Getting access to the Social Security electronic portal was straightforward; we just filled out the authorization form, got it verified, and dropped it off at the local SSA office. They set us up for electronic filings just like they did for taxes, without any major headaches. However, the health insurance side of things is throwing me for a loop. Their website states that once we verify the authorization form, we have to scan it and email it over, along with a digital signature. Has anyone actually gone through this process, or is there still a way to just walk into a local agency office and hand it to them in person? Also, if emailing is the only option, does the email have to come directly from the client’s account (for whom we hold power of attorney), or can we send it from our firm’s official email address? The whole "digitally signing an email" part is a bit confusing to me because I’ve never had to do it before, and it seems like the only time I see those requirements is on the official government portals. If you don't mind, I'd really appreciate any tips on the simplest way to get this health insurance access activated. Thanks!

They made me go through that exact procedure the first time—during the initial registration of the firm that owns the QuickBooks card (our accounting service). You had to use the email address listed on the access form—which I think is even recorded in the system alongside the QuickBooks card data—and you had to digitally sign the email itself.
After that, the access forms for the accounting firm's clients (the ones with power of attorney) go through without all that hassle; you just drop it off at the window or send it via mail, and they activate it within a few days.
I did this way back in 2008, and obviously, I haven't had to digitally sign an email since then😍—back then, someone from the SSA help desk walked me through it, and it wasn't exactly a disaster.

Female, 39, diagnosed with Hashimoto thyroiditis. I've been euthyroid for years without medication—as long as things stay stable, I just follow my doctor's orders
which means checking thyroid hormones once a year and getting an ultrasound

Last year:
TSH 2.17 (0.27-4.2)
T3 1.5 (1.3-3.1)
T4 65 (66-181)
Ultrasound was fine

Now:
TSH 2.38 (0.35-4.94)—same lab, they just updated their reference ranges
T3 1.8 (0.89-2.44)
T4 58 (63-150.84)
FT4 11.4 (9.0-19.05)
Waiting on the ultrasound

Does this T4 level even matter? Is it smarter to just focus on the FT4 and ignore the T4 entirely?

Chase often doesn't list your actual checking account number—instead, you get some weird internal 4xxxx... identifier instead

Payments go through using 2330003-1000000013—just make sure to include that card number in the memo field

Check your statement to see if it's listed there; otherwise, I guess you'll just have to trek down to a local branch to track down the right number

Is it a mother's deduction of 1+0.5+0.3—or just 1?

I guess she could also apply the increase for having a daughter with a disability

A mother can qualify as a dependent if she didn't receive more than $3655 during the 2012 tax year

A sister cannot be a dependent to her own sister—however, a daughter could potentially qualify as a dependent for her mother (for instance, an unemployed daughter living with her mom)

Sure, provided his income didn't exceed $3655 back in 2012.