Self-Select Pin

[Dan]

Question 1: What do you use in Form 8879 for the taxpayer's pin if you don't know what they used last year?

Question 2: What do you do if the previous tax professional used the same pin number for all tax payers?

Question 3: Can I generate a new pin for my customers? Where in the IRS material does it say that I can generate a

new and different pin number?

Looking for your reply. Thanks!

[Pacun]

This is what I do and I believe I follow the rules.

1.- New clients, I assign a number based on their date of birth and I select that it was an ERO selected number and they sign form 8879.

2.- If Taxpayers comes back next year, I tell them if they want to select a new number or used the old one. Most of the time they accept the old number and I select that they entered their pin on form 8879.

3.- If they don't come back next year, I don't enter anything.

I think everybody does as I do on option 3 above.

[Dan]

Thanks ATX master for your response.

Does the information you share mean that an individual could have a new signature pin assigned to him/her each year if they so desired?

So, if that is the case, you would not have to keep record of it.

Where in IRS material does it say you can change the signature pin? What publication or etc.?

Thanks again!

[neilbrink]

If they come back the third year, after having missed the second year, you should reverse the order of the pin numbers from what they were the first year so nobody catches what you are doing.

[Pacun]

Thanks ATX master for your response.

Does the information you share mean that an individual could have a new signature pin assigned to him/her each year if they so desired?

So, if that is the case, you would not have to keep record of it.

Where in IRS material does it say you can change the signature pin? What publication or etc.?

Thanks again!

Check page 25 +

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1345.pdf

[SunTaxMan]

I don't understand why anyone would want to change their PIN. It would seem that the DOB sequence is a number that would be remembered by both the taxpayer and the preparer. Why change it?

[Pacun]

I don't understand why anyone would want to change their PIN. It would seem that the DOB sequence is a number that would be remembered by both the taxpayer and the preparer. Why change it?

Based on my statistics, 99.99% of my clients keep the old number. I only have 100 clients.

[mcb39]

I use the last five digits of their SS and nobody has ever objected or changed their pin. The thing they find silly and unnecessary is having to give me permission to e-file their return every year, when they have already been doing it for several years.

[GeneInAlabama]

>>Based on my statistics, 99.99% of my clients keep the old number. I only have 100 clients<<

I sure would like to see that one hundredth of a client. Could you maybe post a picture of what he/she looks like?

[HV Ken]

Question 1: What do you use in Form 8879 for the taxpayer's pin if you don't know what they used last year?

Question 2: What do you do if the previous tax professional used the same pin number for all tax payers?

Question 3: Can I generate a new pin for my customers? Where in the IRS material does it say that I can generate a

new and different pin number?

Looking for your reply. Thanks!

I use the Practitioner PIN, check the "ERO entered" box, and use the last 5 digits of the SSN for the PIN.

Very easy this way.

What is the value in using Self-Select PIN anyway?

[kcjenkins]

Self-select pin was an option the IRS thought might be wanted by clients to 'protect' the t/p from anyone else knowing his pin. But, of course, only the truly paranoid client would care whether you select it or not. You already know everything in his return, and in fact, have a copy of it. As long as you select something easy for him to remember, he's free to change preparers without having to worry about what the last yr's PIN was. And the IRS does not care what the number is.

I know some preparers use the clients ZIP code. Some use the first 5 numbers of SS number, some the last 5 of that number. One guy I knows uses 12345 for everyone. And the IRS does not care!

[Lion EA]

My software knows I use the Practioner PIN and does everything needed, including using the last five digits of their SSN.