“By requiring verbal statement of the TIN or DOB, such information can be overhead b third parties or recorded by third parties despite the best efforts of the practitioner to prevent such information from being compromised,” the committee said in its 2018 general report.

IRPAC recommended an interim step of returning to the use of Central Authorization File  numbers or Employer Identification Numbers when making calls on the behalf of cllents until a new method can be adopted. 

The committee recommended four methods it believes will address IRS security concerns about CAF numbers and EINs. These are as follows:

*Create a PIN associated with the CAF number;                                                                              *Request verbal statement of only the last 4 digits of TIN or first four digits of the practitioner’s DOB. *Enable practitioners to enter the last four digits of their TINs or first four digits of their DOB via the telephone keypad;                                                                                                                      *Create online accounts practitioners can use to communicate with the IRS through secured means.