Why Did My ITIN Application Get Rejected (And What To Do)

Hey, so today we’re going to be talking about individuals who applied for an ITIN through an IRS tax center, attorney or CPA, but got rejected.

Hey, this is Sina Bonabi from EIN Express. I’m an IRS certifying acceptance agent that’s been both trained and authorized by the IRS to help non-US citizens all over the world, just like you, successfully get there. EINs and ITINs for them.

We’ve successfully helped over 2,249 US citizens to get their EIN and ITINs, and we’d love to help you get yours as well too. So, we’re going to be talking about a question that I’m super excited to talk about.

The question is, a person who comes to us and says…

“Hey Sina, I applied from an ITIN through the IRS tax center,”

“I went through my attorney,”

“I went with my CPA. How come I still got rejected? Or why did I get a letter from the IRS saying, my ITIN is pending and that I need to provide more information?”

The common theme is that when people think when they apply it through an IRS tax center or an attorney or a CPA,

“Oh, it’s the official IRS tax center. Oh, these people are professionals. The attorney, the CPA, so it’s got to be a guarantee that I get my ITIN.”

And that could not be more further from the truth.

 

Why Did My ITIN Application Get Rejected?

Now, let me just preface what I’m going to say next with, this does not mean that if you do apply through an IRS tax center, attorney, CPA that you’re always going to get rejected.

No, I know tons of people who’ve gone to an IRS tax center or an attorney or CPA and very well, gotten their ITINs assigned by the IRS, as well. This does not mean for all of them. This is speaking to the people who have gone to them before and had been rejected. And I’m going to shed some light on why they get rejected in this video.

So, people commonly think that when you go to an IRS tax center, they’re going to, basically, do your application for you, and they’re going to walk you through it, and they’re all going to hold your hand, and they’re going to make sure that you’ve dotted your I’s and cross your T’s and everything with your application. So, it’s full proof you’re going to get your ITIN for sure.

That’s very much incorrect. When you go to these IRS tax centers, you are simply just going there to give them your application, and they’re just, for the most part, they’re just taking it and applying for you.

They’re not really doing any type of quality control check or anything. You’re just giving them an application, and they’re turning it in. And take it a step further, doesn’t even hit the IRS service center until their batches are full, and then they ship them out. So, it takes even longer too, and there’s no guarantee.

 

Reasons Why Your Application Gets Rejected

People think just by going to an IRS tax center, there’s a guarantee that I’m for sure going to get my ITIN. No. Absolutely not because they’re not even quality control checking it. They have no idea what type of case you have.

• Is it a tax return case?
• Is it an exception category case?
• What type of exception category case is it?
• Did you provide the right formatted documentation for the exception category to satisfy the support documentation requirement for the ITIN application?
• Or if it was a tax return case, what type of tax return case was it?
• Was it US resident alien? Was it non-resident?
• Are you a spouse or dependent of a US citizen or resident alien or are you a dependent spouse of a non-resident alien holding a US visa?

There’s so many different scenarios, and the tax centers don’t go through your application or your tax returns or your exception category documentation or whatever the case may be. They don’t go through any of this to see if everything is done by the book and it’s been done properly so you can get your ITIN, and they don’t do this but it needs to be don. Because if it’s not done, the IRS will reject the application.

They don’t care where these applications are coming from. They don’t care if it’s coming from an agent like myself or if it’s coming from an IRS tax center. The service center in Austin, Texas that does the ITINS, they don’t care where the ITIN applications are coming from, whether it’s the IRS tax center or an agent or a CPA or an attorney.

If the application is not done by the book, and it’s not done correctly, and all the formatting is right, and all the right documentation was provided, they’re going to reject it. Or they’re going to send a letter to you saying your ITIN is pending, given that you provide the requested documentation or information. And that’s for IRS tax centers.

 

Disadvantages of Applying Your ITIN Through an IRS Tax Center, Attorney or CPA

Now, for attorneys or CPAs, my best way to explain why we get a lot of clients who come to us saying…

“Hey Sina, I applied for my ITIN twice already. I used my attorney, and I got rejected.”

“I used my CPA, and I got rejected. What should I do? Why was it rejected?”

It’s not that attorneys or CPAs don’t know anything about ITINs. They know about ITINs, but there’s a whole procedure that goes into applying for an ITIN. And as an IRS certified acceptance agent, I’m literally specifically trained on this process on every single little nitty gritty thing about it.

So, I know what sets off code errors in the IRS service center processing system and what doesn’t. And I know exactly how to go by the book and all tax filing procedures and application procedures for this matter. An attorney or a CPA doesn’t really do that. And it’s not that they’re not smart individuals, they’re very much knowledgeable in their professions.

This is not their profession, this is just something outside of it. And they’re just trying to help other clients by getting it for them.

So, that’s why people who come to me commonly from attorneys or CPAs, this is why they’re rejected, it’s not that their attorneys or CPAs are not competent. No, they’re very much, very, very knowledgeable professionals in their fields, but this is just not their area of expertise.

They’re not an agent like myself who specifically only works on this day and night. So, that’s a common reason why when people say, “Sina, I applied through a tax center, an IRS tax center, or an attorney or CPA, why was I rejected?” These are the reasons why.

Now, one of the benefits of going through an IRS certifying acceptance agent like me is, we make sure that we do these applications by the book, and if there’s any uncertainty, we also have our own personal phone line where we can contact the IRS ITIN department. And we can ask questions about individual’s applications before turning them in.

So, we make sure that we dot our I’s and cross our T’s and be able to make sure the applications are correct before filing them with the IRS to get their ITIN.

 

What To Do Next?

That’s part of that quality control check that you get by going through an IRS certifying acceptance agent. Now, I know some agents don’t do that, and they should, but here at EIN Express, we pride ourselves on our success rate.

We always make sure that, before we send out any application, we make sure we do a great quality control check and running by the IRS if there are any questions. And we don’t send any applications out unless we know that for a fact that they can get accepted.

So, this is a question that comes up a lot, and I was very happy to be able to answer it. I hope the response was helpful to everyone out there. If you have any questions, please post them below. And if you’re ready to start your or EIN or ITIN application, go ahead and CLICK HERE, as well, to get that start as well, too. Thank you everyone. Take care.