IRS Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself Tax Tip Number 6: Safeguarding Taxpayer Data: Monitor Your EFIN for Suspicious Activity
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent this bulletin at 01/12/2017 12:00 AM EST
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Issue Number: IRS Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself Tax Tip Number 6Inside This IssueSafeguarding Taxpayer Data: Monitor Your EFIN for Suspicious Activity Identity thieves increasingly target tax professionals. A thief who breaches the data of one tax return preparer can gain hundreds or thousands of taxpayers’ data. One way you can monitor for suspicious activity is to check how many federal tax returns have been filed with your Electronic Filing Identification Number (EFIN). As part of the ongoing concerns about security and identity theft, the IRS recommends that you verify the number of returns submitted under your EFIN. Do this routinely and especially during filing season. Verify your EFIN through IRS e-Services. If you do not have an e-Services account, then your first step would be to go to e-Services and register for an account. Once you have logged into your e-Services account, follow these steps to verify the number of returns electronically filed with the IRS:
Help safeguard your EFIN. During the filing season, check on your EFIN status to ensure that it is not being used by others. Your e-Services account will give you the number of returns the IRS received, which you can match to your records. The statistics are updated weekly. Please contact the IRS e-help Desk at 866-255-0654 if you see a significantly higher volume than you transmitted. For more information on EFINs, Publication 3112, IRS e-file Application and Participation, provides participation requirements and necessary steps to obtain an EFIN. Publication 1345, Handbook for Authorized IRS e-file Providers of Individual Income Tax Returns, provides rules and requirements for participation in IRS e-file involving individual income tax returns and related forms and schedules. This is one in a series of special security awareness tax tips for tax professionals. The “Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself” campaign’s goal is to raise awareness among tax professionals. It is an initiative of the Security Summit, a joint project by the IRS, states and the tax community to combat identity theft. Because of the sensitive client data held by tax professionals, cybercriminals increasingly are targeting the tax preparation community. Share this tip on social media -- Safeguarding Taxpayer Data: Monitor Your EFIN for Suspicious Activity. http://go.usa.gov/x9UDB#IRS Thank you for subscribing to IRS Tax Tips, an IRS e-mail service. For more information on federal taxes please visit IRS.gov. This message was distributed automatically from the IRS Tax Tips mailing list. Please Do Not Reply To This Message. |