2018 PTIN

[JimTaxes]

anyone else get an email like this:  not even sure it is real. no mention of no fee or refunds for back years

In the next few days, we will begin accepting Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) renewals for 2018. We will send another e-mail once renewal season officially opens.

In the meantime, we want to remind you that while you are required to provide an e-mail address for PTIN communications, the e-mail address is not required to be your company e-mail. It only has to be an e-mail account that you check regularly for PTIN communications.

If you have concerns about the misuse of your company e-mail, any increased potential for identity theft related to your e-mail, or cyber intrusions and scams related to your e-mail, please know that you are not required to use your company e-mail address on your PTIN account. Again, you are only required to provide an e-mail address that you check regularly for PTIN communications. It can be ANY e-mail address, but the e-mail address you provide WILL be included in published PTIN listings.

If you want to change the email address on your PTIN account, select "Edit Login Information" at the top right corner of the Main Menu and follow the prompts.

Thank you for your contributions to effective tax administration and I hope this information is helpful.

Carol A. Campbell
Director, Return Preparer Office
Internal Revenue Service

 

[Tax Prep by Deb]

I received mine today.  I do believe it is legit as it is not asking us to click on any link just reminding us that we need an active email but doesn't have to be a company email.

[SaraEA]

Our IRS liaison suggested we get an email account that will only be used for IRS (e.g., a gmail acct, or if your email provider lets you register more than one set it up).  He showed a random page from the freely available IRS data base and I knew about five people on it; their email addresses were all there.  The separate account will hopefully keep your real acct free of  the urgent emails from potential "clients" who somehow picked you sight unseen and are sending a link to their tax docs, the incessant offers for CE courses, the barrage that comes from PTIN.org, and the phishing attempts that look like they're from irs.gov.  I hadn't gotten around to setting up a separate account so I appreciate the IRS reminding us of the opportunity to change our address at PTIN renewal time.

[Jack from Ohio]

29 minutes ago, SaraEA said:

Our IRS liaison suggested we get an email account that will only be used for IRS (e.g., a gmail acct, or if your email provider lets you register more than one set it up).  He showed a random page from the freely available IRS data base and I knew about five people on it; their email addresses were all there.  The separate account will hopefully keep your real acct free of  the urgent emails from potential "clients" who somehow picked you sight unseen and are sending a link to their tax docs, the incessant offers for CE courses, the barrage that comes from PTIN.org, and the phishing attempts that look like they're from irs.gov.  I hadn't gotten around to setting up a separate account so I appreciate the IRS reminding us of the opportunity to change our address at PTIN renewal time.

Don't waste your time.  IRS people have no clue about e-mail.

[BulldogTom]

Jack,

The point is, the IRS publishes all of the PTIN numbers and email addresses of all practitioners.   From that list is where all these scammers and CE companies are getting our email to try to defraud us or to get us to buy something.  So the IRS is suggesting you get an email account that they will publish that you can put all that crap into, but you have to check it because the IRS will use it to remind you about your PTIN renewal.

Tom
Modesto, CA

[Jack from Ohio]

43 minutes ago, BulldogTom said:

Jack,

The point is, the IRS publishes all of the PTIN numbers and email addresses of all practitioners.   From that list is where all these scammers and CE companies are getting our email to try to defraud us or to get us to buy something.  So the IRS is suggesting you get an email account that they will publish that you can put all that crap into, but you have to check it because the IRS will use it to remind you about your PTIN renewal.

Tom
Modesto, CA

Let me know how that works out to prevent scammers and spammers from sending you e-mails on the new account.

[BulldogTom]

The point is, all those emails will be in one spot, and not your regular business account.  You are still gonna get them, but it is like setting up a Junk Email account for them to go to.

Tom
Modesto, CA

[Roberts]

Received the email so I thought I'd renew - my password isn't working and when I requested a new one - I'm not getting an email with it.

Every freakin year I have a problem somehow with the IRS website and my log in.