In today’s digitally connected world, cybersecurity is a growing concern, particularly when it comes to sensitive financial information. The IRS has taken a proactive step towards safeguarding taxpayers and tax professionals by implementing the IRS PIN Request process for tax preparers. This new measure aims to provide an additional layer of security, ensuring that only authorized individuals can access and file tax returns. In this article, we will explore the benefits of the IRS PIN Request system, how it works, and why it’s a positive development for both tax professionals and their clients. Stay ahead of the curve by understanding the importance of this security enhancement and how it can help protect your clients’ financial data.
What? Haven’t you heard?
When calling the Practitioner Hotline the IRS is verifying the personal information of the power of attorney. As of January 3rd, the representative now needs to provide their personal social security number and date of birth, as well as their home address. This procedure is so new that the IRS has not even published the new IRM yet.
So why the change?
This is being done so that IRS agents can verify identities when someone calls the IRS. As you can imagine, jaws are dropping. Talk in tax pro circles is that this is an invasion of privacy—uncalled for and over the top.
We deal with a lot of sensitive information and an important part of our jobs is to protect the taxpayer. It’s vital that we cooperate with the IRS because it does just that. This information does not appear on the power of attorney forms used by tax pros.
Along with protecting taxpayers, the IRS has YOUR back, too. The new procedure is also meant to mitigate risk to practitioners. That’s you. So maybe it’s not such a bad idea.
Identity Theft Safeguard
HOWEVER, IRS Solutions understands our colleagues’ concerns over the relinquishment of private information—especially since we deal with clients’ issues of identity theft on a regular basis and understand the ramifications.
Using IRS Solutions software, you are able to order transcripts without talking to the IRS. You can pull up your clients’ account transcripts and tax return transcripts, as well as wage and income information. And the best news is no disclosure of your personal information.
Security is a big deal. We get it. So … we created a transcript module that will allow tax representatives to retrieve client information free of personal information disclosure issues.
