IRS query - married name change

Hi folks,

Apologies if something similar has already been posted already. My wife filled out her 2015 tax return earlier in the year, in her married name. A day or two ago we received a letter from the IRS saying that there's a discrepancy between the name associated with her social security number, and the information we've given to them.

And now, with hindsight, of course there is! We applied to update her passport in her married name last year, and assumed that the change would have been passed on to all the relevant departments; however it is now apparent this hasn't happened.

So, in terms of what to do now, we have a little form to complete that the IRS have given us, and we have three choices:

• My social security card is correct, but the identifying information shown above does not match
• The identifying information shown above is correct and the information shown on my social security card is incorrect
• Both the identifying information shown above and my social security card are correct

Alright, so I am pretty sure we need to tick the second option, as her married name is on the tax return, and her social security information is not up-to-date, so for the other fields on the form:

• Enter your name information for tax purposes - is this her maiden name then, at least for this year, and next year, assuming we have updated the social security information, then we use her married name?
• Explain any discrepancies - shall we just say that we updated the passport information and assumed that the social security information would have been updated, and that we will now update the social security information forthwith?

Finally, for supporting documentation, would sending a UK marriage certificate (certified copy) to them be sufficient, or should we include photocopies of the old and new passports too?

Thanks!

Your wife's US tax return needs to match her name recorded with the US social security administration; so change it now. The IRS notice is standard and self-explanatory.  You may have more problems with FinCEN if she filed her FBAR in the wrong name so this can also not be matched (AKA is not acceptable on an FBAR with FinCEN either).

Thanks for the swift reply.

Should we get the name changed with the SSA, wait for that to clear and a new card to be posted out to the UK, and then respond to the IRS document; or, respond to the IRS in the manner I mentioned in my top post whilst we're waiting for the SSA stuff to get sorted out?