“Since the IRS joined in partnership with the states and tax industry in 2015, we’ve made great progress in our effort to combat stolen identity refund fraud. Our numbers are going in the right direction,” said Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter. “To maintain our progress, we continue to evaluate our policies and procedures on an ongoing basis. One area that we identified as in need of change was the individual tax transcript area. We believe the change we are announcing today will better protect taxpayer data from unauthorized disclosure and theft.

In addition, on Sept. 23, the IRS will post an updated Form 4506-T and Form 4506T-EZ, Request for Transcript of Tax Return, that will have a new Line 5b for a 10-digit Customer File Number. Legitimate third parties with a need for income verification or tax data often request that taxpayers complete a Form 4506-T.

As of Sept.23, third parties or taxpayers can create any 10-digit number, except for the taxpayer’s Social Security number, for use as an identifier. The Customer File Number listed on the 4506-T automatically will be posted and visible on the requested tax transcript, allowing the third party to match the document to the taxpayer. A Customer File Number can be, for example, a loan account number.

Line 5b is an optional line, intended for those third parties that request high volumes of transcripts.