AIRTIN500 – TIN Validation Failed is a common error from ACA e-filing.
TIN Validation Failed means that the last name and SSN of a 1095 record that you transmitted does not match IRS records. It could be the employee name and SSN is not matching IRS records but it could also mean that one or more of the covered individuals of that employee is not matching. The IRS specifies which 1095 record is in error but doesn’t specify which name/SSN is not matching.
You need to correct TIN Validation errors. Tax year 2015 is the non-penalty year and the IRS starts off nice by ‘Accepting With Errors’ files with TIN validation errors. From experiences with other information returns, the IRS starts off nice and they gradually move toward:
- Asking the employer or payer to withhold money from the recipient and send that money to the IRS until the name/SSN matches IRS records or,
- Penalizes payers who do not have a name/SSN that matches IRS records.
There are steps to take to correct TIN validation errors. The first step is to double check the W-9 form and contact the employee. Is the last name spelled correctly? Is the SSN correct? Does the last name include hyphens (I have tried TIN matching with and without hyphens and have found that missing hyphens can cause a name to mismatch)? Commas and periods are invalid characters of an individual or business name and eliminated before efiled. Did the person get married recently and has a new last name? Go back to the employee or business you are working with and keep asking questions and we can run TIN matching to see if the name/TIN matches IRS records.
I remember TIN matching a business with the name ‘Greater Business Association’ and it did match IRS records. We ran interactive TIN matching many times trying ‘Greater Business Association of Atlanta’ and ‘Greater Business Association of Georgia’ and many other variations of these names. None matched! Finally, we tried GBA (just the initials) and it matched which means that the initials is what the IRS has on record for that particular business.
I also remember TIN matching my brother’s name/SSN and it did not match IRS records. My own brother! I followed up and found out that he gave me the EIN for his local business instead of his SSN. This is a common error. Small business owners oftentimes use their business EIN and their name (which wont match IRS records) instead of their business name and EIN or individual name and SSN.
You have to make a good faith effort to correct TIN validation errors. It takes time and the more mismatches you have, the more time you have to spend following up with employees, researching and TIN matching. But the time invested now will pay off. The IRS always starts nice and tax year 2015 is the non-penalty year for ACA efilings. But in time, the IRS will move away from niceness and the names and SSNs to match IRS records.
