Did You Get An Erroneous IP-PIN Number from the IRS?

Taxpayers who are the victim of identity theft in regard to tax filings are eligible to receive an IP-PIN number from the IRS. This is a special number issued to the taxpayer that the taxpayer uses when filing the income tax return. A new one is issued each year. If a taxpayer in the program files the return without it or with the wrong number, the return will not be processed, or its processing will be delayed while the IRS confirms the return was not filed by an imposter. This procedure protects the taxpayer from an imposter filing a false return to obtain a fraudulent refund of taxes paid by the taxpayer.

So late in December, the IRS mailed out millions of letters assigning new IP-PIN numbers for people to use on their 2015 tax return filings. The problem is that the letter said to use the number for 2014 returns, not 2015.

The IRS is now advising recipients that the letter was meant for the 2015 tax year, and the number should be used for 2015 tax year filings even though the letter says 2014. Hopefully, if you got one, you did not throw it away thinking that you didn't need such a number for the 2014 tax year since you had previously filed for 2014.

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