IRS Name Game May Cause Problems.

Some 2.4 million married couples got a warning letter from the IRS last year. It said Social that your spouse's Social Security number looked wrong on your 1999 returns.

They may be right, but they may not be. Either way, you have a problem that has to be put right. Otherwise, this year's tax return could be in trouble.

The IRS isn't questioning the first spouse named on these joint returns, usually the husband. What doesn't check out is the second spouse, usually the wife. The name doesn't match with the Social Security number.

So ... is the spouse for real?

If you haven't proved who you are by the time you send in your tax return for the year 2000, the IRS will reject you. You'll lose the spouse's personal exemption. You also won't be eligible for the marital earned income tax credit. To get those tax breaks back, you'll have to prove who you are.

Here's what's going on:

The IRS double-checks the names on tax returns to be sure they're real people. It runs everybody you report against the records held in the Social Security office.

When the checking process started, the government focused on dependents.

A couple of years ago, the IRS started checking spouses' names, but only on tax returns filed electronically.

Last year, the spouse check expanded to paper returns. In 2.4 million cases, the spouse's name and Social Security number didn't appear to match.

One of five things could have happened.

Maybe you erred.

Maybe you're cheating. Sometimes tax-payers pluck a "spouse" out of thin air, to get the lower marital tax rates.

Maybe the wife changed her name when she married but never told Social Security. So the name on the tax return doesn't match her Social Security number.

Maybe the wife kept her maiden name but put her married name on the tax return.

And maybe the IRS simply got it wrong.