TIN ComplianceA resource from TIN Comply
🎮 Knowledge game · about 5 minutes

Name Control Detective

Each case file holds a payee name: hyphens, suffixes, a leading The, trusts, estates, partnerships and dbas. Work out the four characters the IRS will match on before the timer ends, and every case you crack shows the rule that broke it.

You will learn how the IRS derives a name control for people, businesses, trusts and estatesPrivacy runs in your browser; scores stay on your device
CRACKED

Name Control Detective

Sixteen payees, four chapters, one question per file: which four characters will the IRS match on? Crack it before the clock runs out.

Type on your keyboard or tap the tiles. Enter submits, Space is a blank, ? buys a lead.

How to play

  1. Press Open the first case. Each case file shows a payee's name lines, the entity type and any file notes (for example, whether the EIN was assigned online).
  2. Type the four-character name control on your keyboard, or tap the letter tiles. A short name is padded with blanks: leave the last boxes empty or use blank (Space on a keyboard).
  3. Press Submit (Enter). A wrong guess turns the right boxes green; you get three tries per case before the clock runs out.
  4. Stuck? A Lead (? key) gives a clue for 20 points; Reveal fills the next character for 30.
  5. Four chapters, four cases each: individuals, businesses, trusts and estates, then the tricky mixes. Faster cracks, first-try solves and streaks score more.

The real rules behind the game

When the IRS matches a 1099 to its records it does not compare the whole name. It derives a name control of up to four characters from the name lines and compares it with the name control on file for the TIN: the Social Security Administration's record for an SSN, the IRS business master file for an EIN. If the four characters differ, the name/TIN combination is treated as incorrect and the payee can land on a CP2100 B-Notice list. Every case in the game follows one of the IRS's own worked examples from Publication 1586 or the Internal Revenue Manual, with playful made-up names swapped in so the rule stays the same and the answer changes with the name. The worked examples are collected on the IRS name control rules page.

Individuals and sole proprietors

Use the first four characters of the last name. Prefixes and particles count (McCedar is MCCE; de la Rosa is DELA). A hyphenated surname is read from its start and the hyphen counts (Lea-Cedar is LEA-). Spaces inside a surname are disregarded (Di Pigeon is DIPI), apostrophes drop (O'Willow is OWIL) and suffixes such as Jr., Sr. or Minor are left out. Two unhyphenated surnames take the second (Daisy Oak Tree is TREE) except Hispanic names, which take the first (Juan Garza Morales is GARZ); in Vietnamese names Van and Thi are middle names (Kim Van Nguyen is NGUY). Joint payees use the first person listed. A surname shorter than four characters is padded with blanks. A sole proprietor's dba never enters the name control; an individual's trade name replaces the surname only when it is a corporate or LLC name.

Corporations and other organizations

Use the first four significant characters. Drop a leading The only when more than one word follows it (The Meadowlark Company is MEAD; The Flamingo is THEF). Only letters, digits, the ampersand and the hyphen count, and neither symbol may come first. And is not changed to an ampersand. A personal name followed by PC, SC, PA, PS or PSC, and any fund or foundation, follows these corporate rules. Churches, unions and government bodies are read as corporate names; a local or post takes its national organization's name, VFW is always VETE, and a PTA or PTO is PTA or PTO plus the first letter of the state.

Partnerships, estates and trusts

A partnership with a trade name uses the trade name; without one, a paper-assigned EIN uses the first listed partner's last name. An estate uses the decedent's last name and a trust its maker's (corporate rules when the maker is a business); GNMA and FNMA pools use the pool number. For partnerships, estates and trusts whose EIN was assigned online, the IRS takes the first four characters of the name as typed, so the same trust name can carry two different name controls. A political committee uses the candidate's name as it appears.

What the game simplifies

The game checks your answer against the IRS's published example; it cannot know what the SSA or IRS actually holds for a real number, which is what the match uses. The IRM's entity and keying manuals disagree on the order for partnerships (trade name first or first partner first), so the game uses only examples where the source is explicit. For a real payee, run the name control calculator and confirm with IRS TIN matching before you file.

Sources

More knowledge games

  • Inbox Zero: Notice Season: Sort W-9s, CP2100s, returned B-Notices and 972CG letters into the right bin before the IRS clocks run out.
  • Which Box?: A payment slides in, the clock runs: pick the right 1099 form and box before the timer bar empties.
  • The Tip Shuffle: Deal tipped workers, then play the right occupation codes into the W-2 or 1099 box.
  • Penalty Drop: Drop late and wrong 1099s down a peg board, hit the $60 tier and call the right IRS rule to pay nothing.
  • Escape the Filing Room: Locked in the filing room on January 30: crack seven 1099 puzzles before the clock hits midnight.
  • Fifty-State Sort: Route each 1099 to CF/SF, a direct state filing or nothing at all, and fill in a map of 50 states and DC.
  • Treaty Passport: A foreign payee's passport lands on your desk: stamp the right withholding rate, 30% or the treaty rate.
  • The 1042-S Slot Machine: Spin and nudge the reels to the right 1042-S codes: income, chapter 3 and 4 exemptions, recipient status.
  • Form Inspector: Run the W-8 desk: hand each foreign payee the right form, then approve or reject the forms that come back.
  • Deadline Dash: Filings fly in and the clock runs: tap each one's 2027 due date on the calendar before time is up.
  • Real or Fake TIN?: Swipe SSNs, ITINs and EINs as valid or impossible, name the TIN type, then decode IRS TIN matching codes.
  • Match Code Rush: Vendor records roll in: predict the IRS TIN Matching code, then fix the record before it turns into a B-Notice.
  • Reject Rescue: IRIS acknowledgments land one by one. Read the status and rule codes, then make the right next move.
  • Get Your TCC: Roll the weeks and race the calendar from ID.me to an approved IRIS TCC before the 2027 due dates.
  • CSV Cleanup Crew: Turn a messy vendor export into an upload-ready IRIS portal CSV: map the headings, fix the bad cells, split the file.
  • Schema Surgeon: Operate on IRIS A2A transmissions: find the broken XML nodes, fix them, and get Accepted in ATS.
  • FIRE to IRIS: The Move: Sort FIRE-era filing habits into still true, changed or gone before the IRIS season starts.