ID.me
I had asked you all to set up an id.me account for looking at IRS records. I have since found out that id.me is the only way to log into the SSA as well, so it’s something you need to get done.
Go to IRS.gov and in the upper right corner, there's "Sign In"
On the Sign In page, there's a box for individuals. At the bottom of that box is a link to sign up for a new account.
On the next page, click the blue "Sign in or Create" box
On the next page, click the white "Create an account" box.
From there, it will ask general info like name, email and mobile phone. Enter all that. Make sure to use your mobile phone number as landlines won’t receive a text.
Then try to login. That's where it's going to send a text to the phone number entered in the previous screen and ask to upload a picture of the front & back of your driver's license, then a live selfie.
On the pictures, when I was helping my husband set up his account, we found that taking a picture through the app was too blurry to read and we got rejected twice.
We took a picture (just phone camera and snapped a picture, saving it in photos), then when we got to the "take a picture" portion of the process, we uploaded the picture we had taken rather than trying to take it through the app
Once they process the license, they'll send another link to do a "live selfie" so you cannot take a picture selfie to upload; it has to be on their video system.
Each step takes a few minutes for the IRS to process so be patient.
Once they confirm the selfie and the driver's license match, you're good to go.
With the id.me established, I can log into your account and help when the need arises. I’ll only need your login and a code texted to your phone at that time.
If the need does arise, signing a power of attorney will work for letting me see your records, but if I use your login to your account, I can see more data than I can with just the POA access to your account.