And, Use It or Lose It

IRS announced on Tuesday that beginning January 1, 2015, the IRS will limit to three the number of refunds being sent to any direct deposit bank account or issued as prepaid debit card.

IRS will send a billet doux to the over-the-limit taxpayer, telling him, her, it or they to expect a paper check for refund number four et seq., as my expensive colleagues say.

This will limit identity thieves to small-time thievery, it is hoped. In the meantime, the honest refundees should continue to use direct deposit…just take it easy.

The barn door is locked.

And on Monday, IRS announced that ITIN holders who stand mute for five years and don’t use their ITINs on a filed tax return will see them automatically expire. IRS found that barely five million of the roughly 21 million were being used on tax returns. You can imagine what has become of the others. So the clock starts in 2016, and the former automatic expiry of all ITINs is now off the table; now only the dormant will be put to sleep.

Here’s the story: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/Unused-ITINS-to-Expire-After-Five-Years;-New-Uniform-Policy-Eases-Burden-on-Taxpayers,-Protects-ITIN-Integrity