Congrats! You finally found the car you’ve wanted to purchase for the longest time. Given your credit history and the money you’ve saved up for your down payment, you are certain that you will get approved for the loan. Your heart is pumping fast as you meet with the banker to go over the paperwork. She then tells you that she needs to have your tax transcripts on file in order to process the loan. You begin to feel a sense of panic at this point…but, we are here to tell you that there is no need! A way to get your transcripts in an easy and efficient manner is finally here.
The IRS recently announced that their "Get Transcript Online" feature is now available for taxpayers who would like to obtain their tax transcripts. It had previously been taken offline but, after working with U.S. Digital Service and other experts, the IRS has developed an enhanced program for taxpayers’ convenience.
To keep personal information safe from criminals, the IRS made some updates to their online process. Now, when taxpayers would like to access their information, they will need to go through multiple steps to verify their identity. Some information that might be requested could be: a phone number registered under the taxpayer’s name, an email address, a physical address, Social Security numbers, filing status, or certain account numbers.
As part of the process, the IRS will also send out security codes to the email addresses or phone numbers in their system. When prompted, the taxpayer will need to enter these one-time codes to gain access to their tax transcripts. This means that, without access to email and text messaging, a taxpayer will not be able to retrieve their information online. However, taxpayers can still have their tax transcripts sent to them by mail by requesting them over the phone or through the IRS website. The IRS will send the documents to the address they have on file. Taxpayers can expect this process to take anywhere between 5 to 10 days.
For more detailed information, visit IRS.gov.