What an IP PIN does
An Identity Protection PIN is a six-digit number the IRS assigns to your Social Security number or ITIN. Once you have one, a federal return filed under your number must include it. An e-filed return without it, or with the wrong one, is rejected on the spot; a paper return is held until the IRS can verify who sent it. Someone who has your Social Security number but not your PIN can no longer file in your name and collect a refund before you do.
It protects your federal return only. State returns do not use it, and it does not lock your credit or stop other kinds of identity theft. It is one lock on one door, but it is the door through which refund fraud walks.
Who can get one
Anyone with a Social Security number or an ITIN who can verify their identity with the IRS. You do not need to have been a victim. Parents and guardians can get one for a dependent, which is worth doing: a child who does not file a return of their own would not otherwise be the one to notice their number being used.
If you were a confirmed victim of tax-related identity theft, the IRS enrolls you itself and mails a new PIN every year on notice CP01A, sent between mid-December and early January.
Three ways to get one
- Online, the fastest. Sign in to your IRS online account and open the IP PIN section. You see the PIN immediately. The first sign-in requires identity verification with a photo ID.
- Form 15227, by phone. If you cannot verify online and your adjusted gross income is below $84,000 ($168,000 on a joint return), file Form 15227. The IRS calls you to verify your identity and mails the PIN in 4 to 6 weeks.
- In person. Make an appointment at a Taxpayer Assistance Center and bring valid identification. The PIN arrives by mail in about 3 weeks.
It changes every year
An IP PIN is good for one calendar year. Each January the IRS generates a new one, and the old one stops working. If you enrolled online, you sign in each year, from mid-January, and read the new number (the online tool is offline for maintenance from November 16, 2026 until mid-January 2027); nothing is mailed unless you used Form 15227 or were enrolled as a victim. Use the PIN that is current when you file, even when the return is for the previous year.
Putting it on your return
Tax software asks for it on the identity page; on a paper return it goes in the box next to your signature. On a joint return, each spouse who has a PIN enters their own; one spouse having a PIN does not cover the other. If you claim a dependent who has an IP PIN, an e-filed return needs that PIN too, on Form 1040, Form 2441 or Schedule EIC wherever the dependent appears. A paper return does not ask for the dependent's PIN.
If you lose it
Sign in to your online account and read it again. Without online access, call the IRS's identity protection line at 800-908-4490, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time. An assistor verifies your identity and mails the PIN to your address of record within 21 days, which is why the online route is worth setting up before filing season rather than during it.
Can you stop using it?
If you joined voluntarily and have never been a victim of tax-related identity theft, you can opt out through your online account. If you enrolled through the one-time option, you are opted out automatically at the end of the calendar year. Victims enrolled by the IRS stay in the program.
The one rule about scams
The IRS never asks for your IP PIN. A call, email or text that does is a scam, however official it looks. The only places the PIN belongs are your own tax software, your paper return, and a tax preparer you have hired to file for you.
Is it worth getting?
For most people, yes. It costs nothing, takes minutes online, and removes the most common way a tax refund is stolen. The only cost is having to fetch a new number each January, a small habit in exchange for not spending months proving to the IRS that a fraudulent return was not yours. When you are ready to file, the tax prep checklist lists everything else to gather, and the 2027 filing dates guide covers when the IRS opens the season.
Key takeaways
- A six-digit PIN that must be on any federal return filed under your Social Security number or ITIN.
- Anyone who can verify their identity can get one, for themselves or a dependent; online is fastest, but a dependent under 18 has to use one of the other routes.
- Form 15227 is the route without online access, for AGI below $84,000 ($168,000 joint); the PIN arrives in 4 to 6 weeks.
- A new PIN every calendar year; each spouse uses their own; federal returns only.
- Lost it: online account, or 800-908-4490 with a mailed PIN within 21 days. The IRS never asks for it.
Sources
- IRS: Get an Identity Protection PIN (eligibility, online account, Form 15227 limits, in-person route, annual renewal, planned outage): last reviewed 10-Nov-2026
- IRS: Frequently asked questions about the IP PIN (joint returns, dependents, lost PIN, CP01A, opting out, federal returns only): last reviewed 02-Jun-2026