If you said “no I’m not giving out my SSN”, can he just say “well you’re not getting paid then”? I mean, isn’t it illegal to ask for SSNs for that type of thing? Why does he need it?
I don’t live in the US so I don’t know how it works for you guys. If he’s mailing you a check, there’s no reason for needing SSNs though?
all you’d need is address to mail a check… if TL, for whatever reason, was seriously concerned about their true identity, they could’ve asked for a photocopy of their driver’s license. SSN is like… for credit reports, background checks, and government agencies. i wouldn’t give my SSN to my best friends unless it was for one of those reasons.
i’m just gonna treat that comment as an exaggeration until it’s proven otherwise. because if we assume it’s true and ssns were given out, even willingly, that’s at the very least borderline criminal activity.
they had to fill out W-9’s and were told they would receive a check in the mail in a month.
ok the w-9 form does require SSN… but why go through that process? because it’s in check form? why would they not be able to just have the players report it as self-earned income or whatever the standard is?
is this normal practice at EVO/majors? first i heard of this
Why is that? From my understanding, a W-2 is a form used to report wages paid to employees and the taxes withheld from them . It implies that there is an employer-employee relationship. I can see that it might be necessary to report income for tax purposes, but it seems a bit odd to do it with a W-2.
If you Top32 a Yugioh major you have to give them your SSN/fill out paper work, and that game isn’t allowed to give out cash prizes. I’m assuming this is normal for other games.
EVO just writes the checks in person, at least that’s what they did it in 2011.
I really don’t know much about the whole tax/IRS thing, I just fill out W-2’s when I need to. Here’s what W-9’s are for according to Wikipedia:
W-9
Form W-9, 2005
The Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, serves two purposes. First, it is used by third parties to collect identifying information to help file information returns with the IRS.[9] It requests the name, address, and taxpayer identification information of a taxpayer (in the form of a Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number). The form is never actually sent to the IRS, but is maintained by the person who files the information return for verification purposes. The information on the Form W-9 and the payment made are reported on a Form 1099.[10] The second purpose is to help the payee avoid backup withholding. The payer must collect withholding taxes on certain reportable payments for the IRS. However, if the payee certifies on the W-9 they are not subject to backup withholding they generally receive the full payment due them from the payer.[9] This is similar to the withholding exemptions certifications found on Form W-4 for employees.
EDIT looks like fruityryu beat me to it.
This makes more sense in terms of tax forms. However, it would also means that John Nelson has a record of your SSN. Based on this guy’s reputation, that does not sound very comforting to me.
Yes. I would also like to know if EVO/other majors requires your SSN to get paid,.
This isn’t right. You’re in essence attacking protected speech. You can choose not going to the tournament or listening to these guys and you’d be well within your right to do so, but you want them to shut up because they are promoting something you don’t agree with. That’s how children and buffoons deal with something they do not like, not adults.
I’m taking liberties in thinking you are, in fact, an adult. Huge leap, imo.
Literally was typing that question out myself. That’s just… not a comforting thought, doubly so with a TO that’s this shady.
And to those who handed out their SSN to this organization, I suggest you keep a close eye on your credit report. The Fair Credit Report Act says you can get your credit report once a year for free from the three main agencies who handle them. Not only is this good practice to do once a year to make sure your financials are in order, but it also lets you know if any credit cards were taken out under your name. I cannot stress enough how important it will be for winners to look up this report in about 5-6 months after this tournament.
well my mind is eased a little with the w-9 form. just a bit of a shock
You know, attempting a credit fraud scheme through this is probably the dumbest idea you could come up with since it would be monumentally easy to track you down. Some of you guys are really into conspiracies and drama.
I don’t think that a man who could barely run a tournament would keep something as sensitive as other people’s SSNs under proper lock and key.
What’s he gonna do? Toss em out? He may really suck at running tournaments but lets not delude ourselves into thinking he’s an infant.
That and lets also not go into the thinking that he’s some shady monster out to take money from the community since apparently he’s always negative in funds in every event he does. So lets just assume he’s a really really bad business man.
I only gave advice. All of it gold. I didn’t accuse him of having any master plan.
It doesn’t matter if JN intends to do something malicious with the SSNs. He probably doesn’t. But giving out that information when you don’t really need to is just another opportunity for it to fall into bad hands. Maybe JN’s house gets robbed and those papers get stolen. Maybe he shows the papers to the wrong person, not knowing what he’s doing. Who knows what could happen? We’re just wondering WHY he needs the SSNs.
Also, what happens if some guy from Japan comes and wins the tournament? Is he going to take their foreign SSN equivalent and deal with a bunch of specialized paperwork for dealing with foreigners? It seems like so much extra work rather than just writing a check addressed to Daigo Umehara and giving it to a person who is obviously Daigo, then washing your hands of it.
I was just curious myself, never heard of filling out W-9’s or anything of the sort up until now. I know for a fact EVO staff just writes a check and call it a day. Not sure if there’s any extra hoops for writing checks to foreigners, but nothing requiring SSN’s and such.
Of course Marvel and Street Fighter pots will be paid, but anyone who believed these large prizes for low entry games was delusional. It doesn’t make sense when you rationally think about it… 20 - 30 entrants for a game does not equal $3,000 - $5,000 pay outs to top 8 unless it’s a large reputable organizer promising it. This dumb ass just assumed by throwing large numbers around it would draw huge entry’s. I mean seriously, all you have to do is look at this bitch and you can tell he’s shady as hell.
W-9 stuff seems pretty legit. You have to go through the same process when you win it big at the casinos. I had a friend who had to sign off on a W-9 after she won about $3k on slots, had to give the SSN and all that, all for tax purposes. 100% of that money just can’t go into your pocket, but I suppose that’s the legality of it all. The US government trying to get paid off of other people’s earnings.