More ITIN Info

Back on November 29^th, I wrote about the new ITIN requirements. The IRS now requires the original supporting document (like passports) to accompany the ITIN application. Because of the hardship to the applicant this could cause, the IRS will allow Certified Acceptance Agents to verify those documents in some cases so that the taxpayer can hold on to them. But CAAs are now required to get forensic document training to help weed out bogus documents. This has raised some questions.

I heard from Gary Booth and Ronald Nieves about the new forensic training. I didn’t have the answers. But Mr. Booth was able to get some clarification from the Tonya White, a tax analyst at the ITIN Policy Office and shared it with me.

“More information will be posted to the website on forensic training at later date.  In the interim, if you use an internet search engine and put in “forensic training”, multiple vendors will be listed. Use the language from the news release to determine what specific documents need to be covered in the training. The training is at your own expense and must be completed by March 31, 2013.  There are various vendors who provide from 5 hours online training and others that provide up to two weeks of classroom training.  You should evaluate the training based on your business needs. You can access the Department of Homeland Security digital web library for information on how to read the Mexican voter's registration card at http://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=29606.”

Another question I was asked was if CAAs had to pass the RTRP exam. I haven’t been able to find anything definitive but the ITIN FAQ’s now state that ACC’s have to be subject to Circular 230 rules. That makes me think they will have to be if they aren't an EA, CPA or attorney.

That’s all I know. As I learn anything more I’ll share.

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