I called the IRS 2 times, once for website issues and once to talk to someone who can give me some more info on TINs. Basically, if you are an individual who is not using any type of sole proprietorship, corporation, etc., then you will not have a TIN. Essentially, it is a good probability that when you (we) filled out our original tax form with Google, something besides the taxpayer name was used as a business name. I realized this mistake over a year ago after initially entering my information, then changed it. When I got my 1099 from Google I noticed they used the alternate name I put into the business name field, even though I changed it. I even remember re-doing this once more after I saw this info on my 1099. In either case, I re-entered my tax info again, and hopefully they will get this straightened out. I guess in a way its my fault for entering the wrong data in the first place almost 2 years ago, but this should have changed when I updated my info 2+ times after that. I emailed Google as well, I'm sure I'll get the same automated response. What a waste of time.
Here's the response I received from Elizabeth at Google: Looks like I'll have to change my company name to my first, middle, and last name as you did. I'm not sure why this lady can't just say exactly what the problem is and how to fix it???? I also don't know why this is popping up as a new problem after all these years?????
I replied asking if changing my business name to my first, middle initial, and last name would help and she just repeated herself, saying that 28% will be taken out if it's still faulty. December 5th is the final day out of the 14 they gave me, so we'll find out soon.