Success - New ITINs!

Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers are used by those of us that do not qualify for US Social Security Numbers, so that we can file taxes in the US. Unfortunately the process to get one more difficult than, for example, getting an EIN for a partnership which can be requested by phone.

To get an ITIN you file a W-7 form. In order to qualify for an ITIN you need to meet one or more of the criteria on the form. And specifically there are a small subset of those criteria (that probably don't apply) for which you can apply in a standalone manner. It appears that most need to apply for a W-7 at the time when you first submit a tax return. Interesting, because the tax return that you are filing at that point wants an ITIN included on the form. Chicken or egg?

Anyway, the way this works is that you fill out the W-7 (with attached documentation), attach it to your 1040NR (or whatever your first return is that requires the ITIN), and you mail the 1040NR to the location that processes W-7s instead of the location that processes the 1040NR (or whatever form). The W-7 processors assign an ITIN, probably write it on the return, then forward the return to the processors for that form.

This all seems odd, because for example in our case we are submitting:
- 1065 (Federal return for the partnership)
- 165 (State return for the partnership)
- 1040NRs (federal - individual)
- 140NRs (state - individual)
All of them are asking for an ITIN, and only the 1040NRs are sent with the W-7 application. For the rest we just input "Appld For" in the space where the ITIN was supposed to go.


There are at least two ways to mess this up if not careful.
1) Do the W-7 incorrectly
2) Follow the submission instructions for the return instead of sending it to the W-7 people.

A quick Google search will provide a long list of horror stories about (1) messing up the W-7 submission. To help with this the IRS has authorized Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) to help you apply correctly. I phoned a local TAC (yes there are some in Canada) who agreed that there is a very high percentage of rejections and therefore it is a very good idea to get help; but then went on to say that it would be $600 to get that assistance.

I don't think so.

More Googling, looking at the criteria, following the bread crumb trails. It appears that the likely place to fail is submitting a copy of your passport that is not properly notarized. The IRS requires that copies be notarized by a US notary. I.e. A Canadian Notary probably won't cut it. It seems that authorities from countries that signed the Hague Convention can do the verification and provide something called an "apostille", but it seems that Canada is not on the list. Probably this is the source of many rejections.

When we first looked at the ITIN story, we determined that we did not qualify for applying at that time and would have to do the application many months later when submitting the first return. So we just photocopied our passports (the main picture page) and had the copies notarized in the US on our next visit there. That seemed to work: our W-7s were accepted and ITINs came in the mail.