How a small tax firm captures, stores and uses an IP PIN before efile

This page is general information, not legal advice. Get an IP PIN and the IP PIN FAQ are the texts to read. Have counsel review your intake process before you treat this as the firm's process. This page does not invent who is required to have an IP PIN, and it does not invent a retrieval path beyond those IRS pages.

Anyone who has an SSN or ITIN and is able to verify identity is eligible to enroll in the IP PIN program. Parents and legal guardians can also request an IP PIN for dependents. Some taxpayers are enrolled by the IRS after tax related identity theft. Eligibility is not the same as a firm rule that every client must have one. Ask. Do not assume. (Get an identity protection PIN)

Each taxpayer who has an IP PIN must enter it on the tax return. On a joint return, if one or both spouses have an IP PIN, each person who has one must enter it. For electronic filing, if you claim a dependent who has an IP PIN, you must enter that dependent's IP PIN on the Form 1040 series return. The FAQ also says to enter it on Form 2441 and Schedule Earned Income Credit when those forms are in the electronic file. A missing or incorrect IP PIN will reject an electronically filed return. (IP PIN FAQ)

• Ask the primary taxpayer whether they have an IP PIN for this calendar year.
• Ask the spouse on a joint return the same question.
• Ask whether any dependent claimed on this return has an IP PIN.
• Record yes, no, or unknown. Unknown is not ready to transmit.

The IP PIN is used on Forms 1040, 1040-NR, 1040-PR, 1040-SR, 1040-SS, and 1040-X. The FAQ says not to include it on Form 4868 or on a state return. An IP PIN is valid for one calendar year, and a new one is generated each year. Use the current calendar year IP PIN on any federal return you file this year, including prior year returns. (Get an identity protection PIN)

The IRS tells taxpayers to provide the IP PIN to a trusted tax professional when they are ready to sign and submit the return, and not to reveal it in response to phone calls, emails, or texts. Collect it the same way you collect other return facts: through the portal, next to the organizer answers. (Get an identity protection PIN)

Publication 4557 tells tax professionals to implement multi factor authentication for anyone accessing customer information, and to encrypt sensitive files and email that carry personally identifiable information, or to use a secure file transfer method instead of email. An IP PIN in an unencrypted inbox is not stored. (Publication 4557)

If your firm uses Drake Portals for the rest of the file, that product path is the Drake Tax e sign and document workflow. This page is the firm rule across software: the current year IP PIN sits in the same place as the organizer answers, with MFA on the login that can see it.

Enter the six digit IP PIN when your tax software prompts for it. The Get an IP PIN page says your software or practitioner will tell you where. Correct IP PINs must be entered on electronic and paper returns. An incorrect or missing IP PIN will reject the electronically filed return. Do not transmit while any person on the return still has an unknown IP PIN status. (Get an identity protection PIN)

If the electronic filing rejects and the reject says an IP PIN is needed, at least one SSN or ITIN on the return has an IP PIN requirement. Check the reject text your software shows to see whether it belongs to the taxpayer, the spouse, or a dependent. Retrieve that IP PIN before you resubmit. If the IRS issued an IP PIN and the client lost it or did not receive the mailer, the client retrieves the current IP PIN through an IRS online account. Do not file Form 15227 to apply for a new IP PIN in that lost PIN case. The Get an IP PIN page says to use the lost or never received path instead. (IP PIN FAQ)

A person rechecks the software field after any reject that mentions an IP PIN. Tools can draft the chase. They do not prepare, file, or sign the return. Your CPA reviews and signs every return.

One row per person on the return who might have an IP PIN. Duplicate a row if a dependent is added after the first ask.

• Every person on this electronic file has an ask on the board.
• Yes answers have a current year IP PIN in the portal, not in email.
• Software fields match the portal before the first transmit.
• After an IP PIN reject, a person reads the reject text, names who owns the PIN, and does not resubmit until that PIN is in the software.

Download the IP PIN intake checklist and reject follow up table. The tax season operator can draft the chase when an IP PIN answer is still unknown. Your staff approve what goes out. Your CPA reviews and signs every return.