1.) IRS Form 1099's with missing tax identification or Social Security Numbers, and, 
2.) Changes in the Departmental Vendor System requirements making the tax ID/SSN field a mandatory field.

The Department of Social Services is required to comply with the Internal Revenue Service by issuing a Form 1099 to each provider who received payment from DFS for child care services.

Issuance of correct and complete Form 1099's is dependent upon the child care provider tax identification number contained in the Legacy and FAMIS systems.  Currently, FAMIS has identified approximately two hundred child care providers with invalid or missing tax id or Social Security numbers.  This data must be updated immediately in order for DFS to report the child care payments to the appropriate child care provider and to assist the child care provider in complying with tax filing requirements.

MISSING OR INVALID TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS

A tax identification number may be a Federal tax number or a personal Social Security number.
A state tax-exempt number is not an acceptable form of tax identification number for this purpose.  The Federal tax identification number is issued in the format of two numbers, a dash, and seven numbers.  An example of a tax identification number is:  43-1234567.

A listing of providers with invalid tax identification numbers will be faxed to the counties affected by this memorandum.  At this time, fifty-five (55) counties have child care providers with invalid tax identification numbers.

As county office staff does not have clearance to enter tax identification/SSN's on existing vendor numbers, county office staff will notify the Child Care Policy Unit in Central Office of:

• Provider or business name,
• Vendor number, and,
• Tax identification number;

COUNTY OFFICE RESPONSIBILITY

County staff is responsible for obtaining verification of the tax identification numbers and submitting the information to the Child Care Policy Unit in Central Office for entry. 

When submitting the verification to Central Office:

• Write the verified tax identification number on the original fax from Central Office,
• Fax the original listing back to Central Office along with the verification of the tax identification number, and,
• Respond no later than the close of business on January 22, 2001.

If the provider currently receives payment from DFS, it is expected that they cooperate with this request.  If the provider does comply, indicate the provider's response on the fax document and return to Child Care Policy Unit, Central Office, by January 22, 2001.

CENTRAL OFFICE RESPONSIBILITY

Central Office staff will update the provider data in the Common DSS Vendor system upon receipt of the verified tax identification number/SSN.

DVN SYSTEM CHANGES REQUIRING A VALID TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBER

The Department of Social Services now requires that a tax identification number matching the provider name or facility name be entered into the Departmental Vendor System for every provider when they are assigned a vendor number.  Previously, entering the tax identification number was optional.  The system requirements for DVN assignment recently changed to accommodate this policy.

A vendor number is assigned to a business or a person.  A vendor number is used as a tracking mechanism for persons and businesses who are licensed, contracted or registered to provide a service which is paid by the State of Missouri.

The DSS Vendor System now requires staff to enter a valid SSN or tax identification number for any type of provider who may be paid by DSS.  This system changed was introduced in Children's Services Memorandum; CSEM00-02 dated January 03, 2001.

This system change affects every agency that accesses the DSS Vendor System in order to assign a Departmental Vendor Number.  One example of this is the Department of Health Child Care Bureau, who assigns vendor numbers to licensed and certain license-exempt child care providers.

Previously, the Department of Health did not require the provider to supply verification of their tax identification number as a condition of licensure.  The Department of Health is now 
requesting tax identification numbers of providers who apply for licensure and for those providers who have already met licensure but have no DVN.

When a child care facility does not make their tax identification number available at the time of licensure, the Department of Health may assign a pseudo tax identification number in the tax number field.  In order to facilitate the child care licensure process, only the Department of Health may enter a tax identification number specifically as "111-11-1111," when assigning DVN's to a child care provider.  The pseudo-tax identification number is not a verified number at the time it is assigned by the Department of Health.

When a pseudo-tax identification number is present for a child care provider, DFS staff must obtain verification of the provider's tax identification number before:

• Entering the provider's data into the FAMIS Provider Maintenance system, or,
• Submitting a completed contract to the Contract Management Unit in Central Office, and,
• Submit the verified tax identification number and DVN to the Central Office, Income Maintenance Child Care Policy Unit.

• Review with appropriate staff.

 
• Request verification of tax identification numbers from child care providers.

 
• Submit results to the Child Care Policy Unit, Central Office by January 22, 2001.