Learn about Tax Year 2017 changes to driver license requirements and new online tools.

Tax Year 2017 driver license or state identification information

• For married filing joint returns, information is now required for both the primary taxpayer and spouse. If a taxpayer has been issued a driver license or state identification card, they are required to provide that information to be entered into the software.
• Taxpayers must provide the ID number, issuing state, issuing date, and expiration date for all licenses or identification cards. If the taxpayer license/ID is a New York State driver license or non-driver ID, the first three characters of the document number found on the license/ID must also be entered.
• In the event that a taxpayer does not have a driver license or state-issued ID, you will be prompted by the software to indicate this. If the taxpayer does not have either a driver license or state-issued ID, or is deceased, marking the check box indicating that they have neither will fulfill the requirement.
• We require the collection of certain driver license or state-issued ID information as an additional identity verification measure. Having this information collected each year, and not retained or transferred from the prior year, ensures that the information is current and continues to be a useful identity check.
• If the taxpayer refuses to provide the information, the tax preparer should mark the check box indicating that the taxpayer has neither, and keep contemporaneous notes regarding the good faith effort to collect the client information, if we were to ask.

Tax professional webpage redesign

Your Tax Professionals webpage provides you with resources to:

• assist your clients online;
• access your client’s information;
• learn about your responsibilities: and
• find what you are looking for.

It’s arrived—our Power of Attorney (POA) web application

Taxpayers or their representatives may now submit Form POA-1, Power of Attorney, online. All you need is an Online Services account. See Form POA-1, Power of Attorney, for more information and instructions.

Benefits include:

• guidance through the application using built-in messages and prompts to explain each line or section;
• prepopulated information that we have on file for the taxpayer, including all tax types and collection, assessment, or audit cases; and
• speed—your POA will be on file sooner!

View our demo, File a power of attorney, for more information.

Important: After you complete all required fields online, you must:

1. print the completed form;
2. provide it to your client, who must sign and return it to you; and
3. scan and attach the signed form to submit.

Individuals can pay using Quick Pay

Individuals can use Quick Pay to pay directly from their bank account for free!

All you need is the case number from the bill or notice and the following information from an income tax return for one of the last four years:

• Social Security number (and spouse’s SSN, if applicable)
• filing status
• mailing ZIP code
• first and last name