Last year we addressed the question, “Do I Need an Identity Protection PIN to File My Return?”, as the IRS received an increase in fraudulently filed tax returns. Thieves used stolen identities to claim false refunds, and to combat this, the IRS issued Identity Protection PINs (IP PINs) to certain taxpayers who were at risk for identity theft.
The six-digit IP PIN is included on the taxpayer’s federal tax return to authenticate that they are the rightful filer of the return. The IRS has increased the usage of IP PINs to improve their efforts against identity-related theft. So, most taxpayers affected by past identity-related theft issues should have received an IP PIN for the tax year 2015.
However, on January 5th, the IRS announced that the IP PIN correspondence dated January 4th, 2016 incorrectly stated the tax year to which the PIN applied. The IRS announcement advised taxpayers that IP PINs issued on CP01A Notices are intended for use on the 2015 tax return as opposed to the tax year listed on the notice—2014. Here’s the IRS’s explanation regarding the Notice CP01A error.
Taxpayers who file their 2015 federal tax returns without the IP PIN will encounter IRS processing delays of their returns as the IRS will need to take additional steps to verify their identity.
For additional questions on using the IP PIN, see the IRS’s IP PIN page or call Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 1-800-908-4490.
This blog post is a summary and is not intended as tax or legal advice. You should consult with your tax advisor to obtain specific advice with respect to your fact pattern.