Wiki Billing Under Old Tax ID while being credentialed Under NEW Tax ID

[lindaz]

Good Morning Friends,

I'm looking for documentation to give to a provider that backs up the following: billing under his old tax id while he's being credentialed under his new tax id would be considered fraudulent.

 

[thomas7331]

This is really more of a legal/accounting question than a coding question. I don't believe this would be considered fraud if the old tax ID is still valid, but we on this forum are not tax attorneys and can't appropriately give advice on this. The tax ID is used to report to the IRS the entity to which the payment is made and is for tracking purposes of the funds - it is not an identifier that has anything to do with the coding accuracy of the information reported on the claim to determine payment for medical benefit purposes. The tax ID is there for accounting purposes, not coding, but misuse of a tax ID could have other legal implications. This is a question that should be put to your practice accountants or attorneys - it is really completely outside the scope of coding and in my opinion not an area on which a coder should be advising.

 

[lindaz]

Thank you for your response! That makes sense.

 

[amdavis]

Why would it be fraudulent?

Providers can have multiple tax id#s. I have providers who have multiple businesses and work at multiple locations and therefor have multiple tax id#s for those locations. They can even have certain type of services under one tax ID and and other services under a different tax id#. The tax id# like another party said is for the IRS. Long as the provider pays taxes on those different taxes then he/she is fine.But that’s between them, the irs, and the providers accountant if they have one. I mean the only reason why I wouldn’t have tons of tax id#s is it makes doing taxes convoluted but that’s just my opinion.