Federal Tax Lien Documents

IRS to Partially Redact All Federal Tax Lien Document SSNs Effective January 6, 2008

NOTE: This headliner is current through the publication date. Since changes may have occurred, no guarantees are made concerning the technical accuracy after the publication date.Headliner Volume 219 December 3, 2007Effective January 6, 2008 the IRS will partially redact taxpayer social security numbers in the format XXX-XX-NNNN on all federal tax lien documents filed in public records, including lien documents issued electronically. SSNs will also be partially redacted on documents issued to taxpayers and their representatives. Only the last four digits of the SSN will appear on all federal tax lien documents. This change will not impact IRS systems or IRS employees’ ability to provide assistance to taxpayers using the SSN as an identifier. The increasing problem of identity theft poses significant privacy concerns for public documents that include a social security number. IRS transcribed this information for many years on the public notice of federal tax lien. To proactively respond to growing national concerns about identity theft, the IRS instituted SSN partial redaction for notices of federal tax lien recorded after January 1, 2006. Documents such as lien releases and withdrawals associated with documents previously recorded with full SSNs were not included in the 2006 partial redaction due to the possibility of a negative impact on recording offices. The IRS recently surveyed recording offices and the findings indicate that partial SSN redaction on previously recorded documents will not negatively impact recording office procedures. Therefore, effective January 6, 2008, IRS will partially redact social security numbers of taxpayers on all federal tax lien documents. At this time, there is no requirement, nor does IRS plan, to partially redact Employer Identification Numbers. For more information about processing procedures for Notices of Federal Tax Lien and other lien notices, consult IRS Publication 1468, Guidelines for Notices of Federal Tax Liens and Centralized Lien Processing. Contact the Centralized Lien Unit in Cincinnati at the toll-free number (800) 913-6050, with requests for lien payoff or escrow demand letters and for copies of a certificate of release. Questions on other lien issues may be faxed or mailed to the advisory group where the taxpayer resides. The fax number and mailing addresses may be obtained from IRS Publication 4235, Technical Services (Advisory) Group Addresses, on the IRS.gov publications Web page. Call toll-free (800) 829-3676 to order by U.S. mail, or access IRS.gov to download the publications online. S. Raines, Sr. Financial Advisor/Tax Preparer www.effectur.com