We also did not provide our children's SSNs for the last few years. We obtained and supplied them rather than fight the IRS. In the Social Security Number FAQ <http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/privacy/ssn/ssn.faq.html> is this section: Registering your Children The Family Support Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-485) requires states to require parents to give their Social Security Numbers in order to get a birth certificate issued for a newborn. The law allows the requirement to be waived for "good cause", but there's no indication of what may qualify. Section 1615 of the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 strengthened the requirement for taxpayers to report SSNs for dependents over one year of age when they are claimed as a deduction. ( H.R.3448 <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d104:h.r.03448:>, became PL104-188 8/20/96.) The new law allows the IRS to treat listing a dependent without including an SSN as if it were an arithmetic error. This apparently means that the taxpayer isn't allowed to petition the tax court. /pbp