Starting Dec. 13, the IRS will begin masking sensitive data on business tax transcripts in order to curb identity theft. After that point, people will be able to see only the:

• * Last four digits of any Employer Identification Number listed on the transcript: XX-XXX1234
• * Last four digits of any Social Security number or Individual Tax Identification Number listed on the transcript: XXX-XX-1234
• * Last four digits of any account or telephone number
• * First four characters of the first and last name for any individual (first three characters if the name has only four letters)
• * First four characters of any name on the business name line
• * First six characters of the street address, including spaces
• * All money amounts, including wage and income, balance due, interest and penalties
  
  

If a taxpayer is seeking to verify income for a lender, the lender can assign a 10-digit number, for example, a loan number, to the Form 4506-T. The Form 4506-T may be signed and submitted by the taxpayer or signed by the taxpayer and submitted by the lender. The Customer File Number assigned by the requestor on the Form 4506-T will populate on the transcript. The requestor may assign any number except the taxpayer's Social Security number or Employer Identification Number. Once received by the requester, the transcript's Customer File Number serves as the tracking number to match it to the taxpayer.

Practitioners who want more information about what's happening at the IRS can attend the Foundation for Accounting Education's IRS Practices and Procedures Conference Webcast Part 1 and Part 2 on Dec. 3.