“By requiring verbal statement of the TIN or DOB, such information can be overhead b third parties or recorded by third parties despite the best efforts of the practitioner to prevent such information from being compromised,” the committee said in its 2018 general report.

IRPAC recommended an interim step of returning to the use of Central Authorization File  numbers or Employer Identification Numbers when making calls on the behalf of cllents until a new method can be adopted. 

The committee recommended four methods it believes will address IRS security concerns about CAF numbers and EINs. These are as follows:

*Create a PIN associated with the CAF number;                                                                              *Request verbal statement of only the last 4 digits of TIN or first four digits of the practitioner’s DOB. *Enable practitioners to enter the last four digits of their TINs or first four digits of their DOB via the telephone keypad;                                                                                                                      *Create online accounts practitioners can use to communicate with the IRS through secured means. 

Bob Scott

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Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards.  Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He  has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind