{"id":415,"date":"2011-02-03T16:12:32","date_gmt":"2011-02-03T21:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/?p=415"},"modified":"2011-02-03T16:12:32","modified_gmt":"2011-02-03T21:12:32","slug":"five-tips-if-you-changed-your-name-due-to-marriage-or-divorce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/?p=415","title":{"rendered":"Five Tips if You Changed Your Name Due to Marriage or Divorce"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you changed your name as a result of a recent marriage or divorce you’ll want to take the necessary steps to ensure the name on your tax return matches the name registered with the Social Security Administration. A mismatch between the name shown on your tax return and the SSA records can cause problems in the processing of your return and may even delay your refund.<\/p>\n

Here are five tips from the IRS for recently married or divorced taxpayers who have a name change.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If you took your spouse’s last name or if both spouses hyphenate their last names, you may run into complications if you don’t notify the SSA. When newlyweds file a tax return using their new last names, IRS computers can’t match the new name with their Social Security Number.<\/li>\n
  2. If you were recently divorced and changed back to your previous last name, you’ll also need to notify the SSA of this name change.<\/li>\n
  3. Informing the SSA of a name change is easy; you’ll just need to file a Form SS-5, Application for a Social Security Card at your local SSA office and provide a recently issued document as proof of your legal name change.<\/li>\n
  4. Form SS-5 is available on SSA’s website at http:\/\/www.socialsecurity.gov<\/a>, by calling 800-772-1213 or at local offices. Your new card will have the same number as your previous card, but will show your new name.<\/li>\n
  5. If you adopted your spouse’s children after getting married, you’ll want to make sure the children have an SSN. Taxpayers must provide an SSN for each dependent claimed on a tax return. For adopted children without SSNs, the parents can apply for an Adoption Taxpayer Identification Number \u2013 or ATIN \u2013 by filing Form W-7A, Application for Taxpayer Identification Number for Pending U.S. Adoptions with the IRS. The ATIN is a temporary number used in place of an SSN on the tax return. Form W-7A is available on the IRS website at http:\/\/www.irs.gov<\/a>, or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If you changed your name as a result of a recent marriage or divorce you’ll want to take the necessary steps to ensure the name on your tax return matches the name registered with the Social Security Administration. A mismatch … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-individual","category-taxation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}