With recent reductions in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) personnel, reaching a representative by phone may be more challenging. Now is an excellent time to leverage the enhanced functionality of IRS online accounts to address many of your individual and business tax needs.
Below is an overview of the Individual Online Account and the Business Tax Account, designed to simplify the management of your tax information.
How to Register for IRS Online Accounts
To access IRS online accounts, visit www.irs.gov/your-account and sign in securely using ID.me. Creating a new ID.me account should take less than 15 minutes and requires a smartphone, your Social Security number, and a photo ID. To verify your identity, upload a picture of your driver’s license, state ID, or passport, and take a video selfie. Alternatively, you can verify your identity on a live video call with an ID.me representative.
Time Saving Tip: ID.me is a streamlined login and identity verification service used by various federal and state agencies like the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs. If you already have an ID.me account, you can use the same credentials to log in to the IRS website.
Individual Online Account
Individual taxpayers can enroll in the Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN) program and retrieve their new IP PIN online each year to enhance identity security and prevent tax fraud.
Other features available in the Individual Online Account
- View account balance by tax year with details of penalties and
- See up to five years of payment
- Make same-day tax payments or schedule payments up to a year in A variety of tax payments can be made, including balance due, quarterly estimated taxes, extension payments (available January through April), amended return payments, proposed tax assessments from a CP2000 Notice of Deficiency, and Offer in Compromise-related payments.
- Create or revise a short or long-term payment
- Download account transcripts, wage and income transcripts, and
- View certain tax records, including key figures from the most recently filed tax return, Clean Vehicle Credit information, and Economic Impact Payment information.
- Track the status of certain types of audits conducted by
- View your refund status for the three most recent tax years (updated once a day, overnight).
- Live-chat with an IRS representative for taxpayers with collection issues relating to a balance due.
Individuals can also opt to receive email notifications when authorization requests are awaiting their approval or when select new notices and letters are issued. Currently over 200 types of notices are available online. Security Note: The email notifications are generic in nature and only inform you that a new notice is available in your account. To view the actual notice, you will need to log in to their online account.
Business Tax Account
Business Tax Account (BTA) access is available to certain individuals associated with a business by logging into BTA and requesting access to the business’s tax information. Those eligible to use BTA for multiple businesses can add each business to their account and then switch between them to view tax details for each. Depending on their role in the business and the entity type, an individual’s access to various features may be limited.
Features available in the Business Tax Account
- Sole proprietors who file with an EIN. Sole proprietors can also provide business access to designated
- Individual partners or shareholders who receive a K-1from a partnership, S corporation, or These individuals have limited access to features and can only view information for tax years in which they receive a K-1from the business.
- Designated officials (DOs) of a C or S A DO is a corporate officer who is legally authorized to bind the corporation and is also a current employee who received a W-2 for the most recent tax year. To register as a DO, you must request a PIN, which is mailed to the business address on file with the IRS.
- Users can view balances due by tax year, look up payment activity, and request transcripts. While tax payments can be made through BTA, they are limited to federal tax deposits and balances Additionally, only a few types of notices are currently available to view digitally.
- Businesses applying for a federal contract or grant can obtain a Tax Certificate for Award Use (Letter 6575)
- A Business Tax Compliance Report is available for download to verify timely tax return filings and
- DOs and sole proprietors can authorize mortgage companies, banks, or other lenders to order transcripts through the Income Verification Express Service (IVES), which helps expedite the lending process for both borrowers and lenders.
Future Enhancements for Individual Online and Business Tax Accounts
The IRS plans to continue enhancing online account features, including:
- Access to BTA for more businesses and entity types and expanded payment type options (e.g., excise, audit, extension, etc.).
- The IRS plans to expand BTA access to other businesses and roles in the future, including single-member LLCs that report income on Schedule C, tax-exempt organizations, and DOs for partnerships.
- Enabling tax professionals to submit POAs for business clients and allowing those business clients to review and approve the POA requests online.
- Allowing tax professionals to act on behalf of their clients in more ways with tools to view audit statuses, create pre-assessed payment plans, calculate lien payoffs, and assess eligibility for an offer-in-compromise.
- Expanding the types of digital notices available and providing individuals with the ability to reply to a CP2000 matching notice via secure messaging.
- Amended return status tracking for
Conclusion
As your Opportunity Advisors, we recommend using the IRS’s online accounts for identity protection, real-time tax data, payment tracking, and tax transcripts.
The IRS has made significant progress in providing digital access to tax information. We will continue to update you as they enhance these tools. Questions about using these tools for your specific needs? Contact your Keiter Opportunity Advisor.
