Level 5

Solved

Identity protection pin

Forum|Forum|2 months ago
April 14, 2026
3 replies
11 views

I am receiving the following electronic filing error message:

Error Detail:
The Primary Taxpayer did not enter a valid Identity Protection Personal Identification
Number (IP PIN).

Taxpayer says he visited the site, never received a document from the IRS and hasn't had any identity issues. Also does not have an IRS account.

Any thoughts?

TIA

ProSeries Basic

Best answer by gabletax

It's not unusual for IRS to assign an IP PIN requirement for a reason unknown to the taxpayer and without informing the taxpayer. At this point, the best option would be for the taxpayer to set up an IRS account to get the PIN.

Apparently, an extension can be filed without the IP PIN. At least, ours was accepted a few days ago without our IP PIN's.

rbynaker

Level 13

Thought: The SSN has been entered wrong and the person it actually belongs to has an IP PIN.

But I've been practicing my hallucinations. If AI can do it, I can too!

J

JML222Author

Level 5

Thanks! I verified the SSN with prior years returns that were accepted error free.

Strange...

rbynaker

Level 13

I'd ask for the SS card just to be sure. Do all of the information returns have redacted SSNs? I liked it better when we could use them as an extra verification. I had one where the middle digits of the SSN were reversed on the 1099 (fortunately we had it right, the payer had it wrong).

Beyond that, what everybody else said. Get an IP PIN (often easier said than done) or extend until you can. Paper filing might be in your future (IMO that's not solving the problem, just kicking the can down the road but sometimes that's the best you can do).

Rick

G

gabletaxAnswer

Level 5

It's not unusual for IRS to assign an IP PIN requirement for a reason unknown to the taxpayer and without informing the taxpayer. At this point, the best option would be for the taxpayer to set up an IRS account to get the PIN.

Apparently, an extension can be filed without the IP PIN. At least, ours was accepted a few days ago without our IP PIN's.

J

JML222Author

Level 5

Good info!

Thanks

dascpa

Level 11

We all have an IRS account. Whether you activated your login is a different issue.

I've had the opposite. E-file reject for invalid IPIN. Have the (current year) letter in front of them. Go online to retrieve the number and its a different number. This one was great - one cient got a letter in the mail from the IRS they sent out in January the wrong IPIN and here is the corrected one.

The IPIN concept is great. In pracitce it's a pain in the..... Trying to get an 84 year old to retreive their IPIN is not fun. I now have clients opting out of the IPIN system.

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