IRS Expands Online Account Tools

June 14, 2017 by 1 Comment
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Last year IRS launched an online account tool to allow individual taxpayers to look up basic information such as balance due for any years where there was an outstanding liability. Earlier this week, IRS announced that the tool’s now include the option to view up to 18 months of tax payment history. The online portal also allows individuals to get transcripts of Form 1040-series tax returns through the IRS’s Get Transcript tool and make payments through electronic payment options.

Mindful of the data breaches of the recent past IRS appears to have inserted a robust authentication process. To register, IRS requires the following:

  • Social Security Number
  • Date of birth
  • Filing status and mailing address from latest tax return
  • Access to an email account
  • Personal account number from a credit card, mortgage, home equity loan, home equity line of credit or car loan
  • A mobile phone with your name on the account.

The news release accompanying the development provides a bit more detail on registering:

Taxpayers who have registered using Secure Access for Get Transcript Online or Get an IP PIN may use their same username and password. To register for the first time, taxpayers must have their personal and financial information including: Social Security number, specific financial information, such as a credit card number or loan numbers, email address and a text-enabled mobile phone in the user’s name.

Moreover, IRS seems to be moving toward an authentication that should limit inappropriate access:

As part of the security process to authenticate taxpayers, the IRS will send verification, activation or security codes via email and text. The IRS warns taxpayers that it will not initiate contact via text or email asking for log-in information or personal data. The IRS texts and emails will only contain one-time codes.

The shift to an online account portal for individual taxpayers is a welcome development, as digitally capable taxpayers will  access information that until now generated resource draining phone calls and correspondence. With the opportunities it provides, it also presents challenges. The National Taxpayer Advocate, for example, has discussed on numerous occasions how many segments of the taxpaying public (such as the poor and elderly) may have limited access to technology and differing preferences than other taxpayers (see e.g., her comments from the 2016 Annual Report at around page 23, where she discusses research showing that “28.5 percent, 40 percent, and 31.9 percent of the Low Income, Senior, and Disabled taxpayers, respectively, had no broadband access at home, significantly limiting their online activities.”)

It is helpful that IRS is seeking comments from individuals who use the online tools. The problem comes if the IRS fails to recognize the needs of a sizeable portion of the population for whom this is not a viable option. It is important that Congress funds the IRS and IRS addresses the needs and preferences of the millions of taxpayers who by choice or necessity will be communicating with IRS via correspondence, telephone or in person.

 

 

Filed Under: Future State
Avatar photo About Leslie Book

Professor Book is a Professor of Law at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law.

Comments

  1. Mark Smith says
    June 14, 2017 at 7:08 pm

    Just tried the updated tool on my own account.

    It still has a way to go.

    It doesn’t show extension or estimated tax payments for the past 18 months.

    Reply

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