In a move to better protect taxpayer data the Internal Revenue Service is revising the format of taxpayer tax transcript that will partially redact certain identifying information. The new tax transcript will be available to the taxpayer or tax professionals beginning on September 23.
The IRS is making these changes because the tax transcript has become a sought after document by identity thieves. This is because in order to try and get past the IRS fraud filters the identity thieves need to create a return that looks like what the taxpayer has filed in the past. Therefore the criminals are attempting to pose as taxpayers or tax preparers in order to obtain the tax transcripts for prior year returns of individuals.
The new format of tax transcripts will now partially redact the following identifying information:- Last 4 digits of:
- Any SSN on the transcript
- Any EIN listed on the transcript
- First 4 characters of:
- Account or telephone number
- Business name
- First 6 characters of street address, including spaces
The new tax transcript will include all money amounts, including balance due, interest and penalties.
The IRS has also created a new Customer File Number that lenders, colleges and other third parties that order transcripts for non-tax purposes will use as an identifying number instead of the taxpayer’s SSN.
For more details see the following of the IRS website:
- IRS News Release of August 22 – IRS to introduce new tax transcript to better protect taxpayer data
- About the New Transcript FAQs
- Sample of New Tax Transcript
Learn more in the CrossLink Tax Resource Center.
