An IRS Account is Useful!
Hi Friendos,
If you followed my Valentine’s Day advice to get an IP PIN, you now have an IRS.gov account. Congrats! If you’re not convinced to have one just for the identity theft prevention, let me encourage you with a few more benefits of an IRS.gov account.
At tax time you can:
- Download transcripts to share with a tax preparer without giving them full account access. I’ve had tax clients do this and it worked beautifully!
- Retrieve wage and income transcripts to confirm what employers or banks reported before you file your tax return. This is wonderful if you’re not sure that you saved/have copies of everything or actually sent everything to your tax preparer.
- Check prior‑year refunds or estimated tax payments to avoid errors on a tax return. If you made estimated tax payments, you do not want to omit that from your tax return, otherwise you’ll pay those dollars twice!
All year around you can:
- Securely update your mailing address.
- Download past tax returns to verify income for a mortgage, rental application, or financial aid.
- Verify account balances, penalties, or interest when planning how to pay a tax bill.
- Access copies of IRS notices or letters that were lost or never arrived.
- Confirm stimulus‑payment amounts or advance child tax credit payments for accurate reconciliation.
That’s my pitch – get an IRS account!
-Stephanie
Frequently Taxed Questions 