EIN Or SSN For Parent Using FSA?

[BumbleBee]

I just got off of the phone with a person in Lansing and I am beyond confused. I've got a call into my tax person but thought I'd ask here as well.

I have a ficticious business name (Doing Business As) as well as an EIN. I have a business account at the bank which I opened with the EIN # and business name. All of my business transactions go into and out of this account, it is completely seperate from my personal accounts.

I recieved a letter from Lansing that stated my Federal ID Number was my SSN. I called them to correct the issue (have the EIN put in) and was told that a family home daycare in the state of Michigan cannot use an EIN.

Here's the problem:

A daycare parent of mine is going to be using an FSA for child care. To do this, she needs my tax id number. Which # do I use, my EIN or my SSN?

Furthermore, at tax time, how badly is this going to hurt me? I'm worried I've screwed this all up with having an EIN. I'm pretty sure the bank requires an EIN to open a business account. Should I have just opened another personal account and used it for business?

I'm not sure what to do at this point, any advice would be appreciated. The big question is which # do I give the parent for the FSA? And which # do I file taxes under????

Thanks in advance for any advice. I appreciate it.

[Blackcat31]

Who told you that you couldn't use your EIN?

What is FSA?

I would NOT give out my SS# to anyone under any circumstances. I thought an EIN was for anyone not wantng to provide the SS# and anyone doing business. :confused:

Hopefully Tom will have the answer for you.

[BumbleBee]

Who told you that you couldn't use your EIN? The secretary at the Lansing office stated that it couldn't be used for a family daycare in the state of Michigan

What is FSA? FSA stands for Flexible Spending Account.

I would NOT give out my SS# to anyone under any circumstances. I thought an EIN was for anyone not wantng to provide the SS# and anyone doing business. :confused:

I don't want to give it out and, other than licensing, have not. (It's required on the application for a license) I thought the EIN could be used instead of the SSN as well.

Hopefully Tom will have the answer for you.

Thanks BlackCat! I was *this close* to calling the IRS but thought I'd ask here and put a call into my tax preparer first before jumping all the way to the IRS.

[itlw8]

That person is stupid. refuse to give your SSN they do not need it.

[Blackcat31]

FSA...Aha, I got it now. I have several parents who use Flex Spending through their work and I use my EIN on the forms and have never had a parent come back asking for anything else.


I know a lot of places consider a home based child care to be a gray area and they don't really count it as a business but still....that sounds off to me.

I still wouldn't give out my SS# either way.

[TomCopeland]

Ein

Always use your EIN.

[BumbleBee]

Thanks guys!