The Inner Income Service and its Safety Summit companions within the tax prep trade and state tax authorities are encouraging tax professionals Tuesday to tell their shoppers about Identification Safety Private Info Numbers to safeguard towards id theft.
The IRS and its Safety Summit companions have launched into a public consciousness marketing campaign this summer time to prod tax professionals into beefing up cybersecurity at their very own workplaces and amongst their shoppers to guard consumer knowledge. This week they’re asking tax professionals to share details about the IP PIN Decide-In Program. The alerts are being issued every Tuesday for 5 weeks to coincide with the IRS Nationwide Tax Boards.
“These id safety numbers present an additional layer of security to guard folks towards tax-related fraud tied to utilizing stolen private data,” mentioned IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig in a press release. “Following work by the IRS, the IP PIN program is now accessible to anybody who can confirm their id. We urge tax professionals to encourage their shoppers to guard themselves by way of the IP PIN program.”
IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig
The Digital Tax Administration Advisory Committee, or ETAAC, pointed to the significance of the IP PIN to taxpayers and tax professionals in its annual report (see story).
“The IP PIN is the primary safety device at present accessible to taxpayers from the IRS,” the unbiased advisory group mentioned in its annual report back to Congress. “This device is the important thing to creating it harder for criminals to file false tax returns within the identify of the taxpayer. In our view, the advantages of elevated IP PIN use are many.”
The ETAAC really useful the IRS proceed to spotlight and promote the IP PIN by way of a public consciousness effort. The IRS is taking steps to do this, together with this summer time’s marketing campaign and constructing off consciousness of particular objects comparable to Publication 5367, IP PIN Decide-In Program for Taxpayers, in English and Spanish, permitting tax professionals to print and share IP PIN data with shoppers. There are additionally particular posters accessible in English and Spanish.
For safety causes, tax professionals can not get hold of an IP PIN on behalf of shoppers. Taxpayers should get their very own IP PIN.
Summit companions urged taxpayers and tax professionals to watch out and shield the IP PIN from id thieves. Taxpayers ought to share their IP PIN solely with their trusted tax prep supplier. Tax professionals ought to by no means retailer shoppers’ IP PINs on pc techniques. Additionally, the IRS won’t ever name, electronic mail or textual content both taxpayers or tax preparers to request the IP PIN.
Tax professionals who’re hit with knowledge theft can assist shoppers by urging them to rapidly get hold of an IP PIN. Even when an id thief already has filed a fraudulent return, an IP PIN would nonetheless provide protections for later years and stop taxpayers from being repeat victims of tax-related id theft.
To get an IP PIN, the IRS gives the Get an IP PIN on-line device.