Important Notice for the Upcoming Tax Season: Your Identity Protection PINs (IP PIN) have been updated for 2026 (updates happen every January).
To protect yourself against identity theft, it’s crucial to obtain an Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN) from the IRS. This security measure is designed to prevent scammers from filing tax returns in your name and stealing your refund. In 2022, over 228,000 taxpayers filed Form 14039, the Identity Theft Affidavit, indicating that they suspected someone used their information to file a fraudulent tax return.
Once you enroll in the IP PIN program, the IRS will not accept any tax return filed in the current calendar year—regardless of whether it’s for that year or a previous year—without this unique six-digit PIN. Each January, you will receive a new IP PIN that will continue to protect you from fraudulent submissions for the rest of the calendar year.
To complete the process online, you’ll need to create an account with ID.me, a trusted third-party provider used by the IRS to verify identities. According to their website:
You can choose a self-service option that requires a photo of your government ID and a selfie, or you can opt for a live video chat with an ID.me agent, which does not necessitate biometric data.
I had set up an ID.me account years ago for a different reason, and while I successfully used the selfie method, my wife needed to go through the live video chat to verify. We’ve both encountered issues like rejected ID photos and software glitches.
If you forget your PIN, simply log back into your IRS.gov account to retrieve it under your Profile. It’s essential to safeguard your ID.me and IRS.gov passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA) methods. ID.me allows you to use a TOTP Authenticator app for MFA. Additionally, set a reminder to have your IP PIN ready when you file your taxes to avoid any rejection of your return.
For more details, please visit the IRS IP PIN FAQ page (that’s a lot of acronyms!).
