Tax Industry Updates:

IRS, States and Industry Partners Provide Update on Collaborative Fight Against Tax-Related Identity Theft

On March 19, 2015, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen convened an unprecedented Security Summit with public and private tax administration leaders to discuss common challenges and ways to combat tax-related identity theft.

IRS officials, the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the leading tax preparation firms, software developers, payroll and tax financial product processors, and state tax administrators came together to identify those steps that could be taken before the 2016 filing season and beyond.

On June 11, 2015, Summit participants announced they had reached agreement on a series of recommendations to protect taxpayers and protect the integrity of the federal and state tax systems.

Three working groups specializing in authentication, information sharing and cybersecurity focused on developing ways to validate the authenticity of taxpayers and information included on tax return submissions, information sharing to improve detection and expand prevention of refund fraud, and threat assessment and strategy development to prevent risks and threats.

On Oct. 20, 2015, Koskinen and Summit participants provided an update on the progress made by the working groups. For security reasons, only general details of many Security Summit activities will be discussed publicly.