Un-be-lievable

I moved to the U.S. of A. since July of 1999. Prior to that, I was here on a temporary work visa in December of 1998. At that time, I applied for a Social Security card. Since then, I've held several jobs, I've gotten driver's licenses in several states, I got several credit cards and a loan to buy a car, checked my credit report every few years. I also became a U.S. Citizen and obtained a U.S. passport. I've been contributing to the Social Security System since then, and filed taxes every year. Moreover, when my citizenship status changed, I was required to get a new social security card, for which I went to the SSA office, waited several hours, filled out several forms, and later got the new card on the mail.

Until now...

The joy of being done with my income taxes and so easily file the paperwork electronically was shattered when I received an e-mail back from the IRS saying they were rejecting my tax return. Really? Rejected? I didn't even know they could do that! The birth date they have in the system for me doesn't match their records, which apparently they obtain from the Social Security Administration. A very nice SSA employee tells me the record has been wrong since the original application. How how how how is this possible? In 10 years, nobody (me included) noticed that my DOB was incorrect? My biggest worry: identity theft... could someone out there be pretending to be me but didn't think I was young enough so they changed it? Not funny.

Bottom line: The SSA will receive a visit from me once again, see my birth certificate, passport, drivers license, all of which show my correct DOB, and hopefully have it corrected so that I can, 10-16 days later, finally fill out my income tax return.

Does anyone else feel extremely uneasy about this?