PTIN will require ID.me

[Jim Oh Bkkr]

8 hours ago, BulldogTom said:

Not like I am being childish

Does sound childish to me.  Sounds like good advice.  (Coming from the last guy to sign up for E-file!)

8 hours ago, BulldogTom said:

Then we can have all our clients opt out of efile

Seems like when I studied up on the E-file rules, we ARE NOT allowed to voice that opinion to clients.

But I do appreciate that they let me spend 2,500 dollars before announcing this info!

[Gail in Virginia]

22 hours ago, Abby Normal said:

Well, they're trying to make it harder for those fraudsters to log into your account. 

But are we solving a problem that doesn't exist?  Have fraudsters been logging into PTIN accounts?  Especially to renew them and pay the fee? 

[Catherine]

16 hours ago, BulldogTom said:

Not like I am being childish about this or anything....

We can think about it; that's 90% of the joy and  0% of the repercussions!

[Abby Normal]

11 hours ago, Gail in Virginia said:

But are we solving a problem that doesn't exist?  Have fraudsters been logging into PTIN accounts?  Especially to renew them and pay the fee? 

Perhaps. The IRS did ask us to check our PTIN accounts to see if the number of returns filed uner our PTIN seemed reasonable. But they're probably stealing our PTINs from copies of returns we've prepared. That's why our PTINs are masked on the client copy now. For years, they were not masked.

[JohnH]

And just think of how many of us have clients whose tax returns from prior to 2000 are lying around with our social security numbers on them. (or tossed in the garbage when they did house cleaning or by their heirs) 

 

[Catherine]

15 hours ago, JohnH said:

with our social security numbers on them

I still have, in deep files under lock & key, a set of tax forms sent to me in the mail - with the little sticker with my name, address, and ssn on it.  Remember those? (That year I had moved so I did not use the sticker.)

[Lee B]

1 hour ago, Catherine said:

I still have, in deep files under lock & key, a set of tax forms sent to me in the mail - with the little sticker with my name, address, and ssn on it.  Remember those? (That year I had moved so I did not use the sticker.)

Wow, I had totally forgotten about those