Lenders don't need to worry about meeting new requirements for getting tax transcripts from the Internal Revenue Service heading into the holiday weekend.
The IRS announced Wednesday that it would push back the implementation deadline for new requirements for lenders using the Income Verification Express Service to July 15. The original deadline for implementation was July 1.
"We’ve heard the concerns being raised about the initial time frames set for our IVES partners to verify their clients, and we appreciate their feedback for this important program," the IRS said in a statement Friday. "Following that, we have decided to extend the deadline from the original July 1 date to July 15."
The date change was welcomed by many in the industry who had concerns about the quick implementation of changes that were just announced June 23.
"While [the American Bankers Association] supports standards to strengthen the IVES authentication process and prevent fraud, the association raised concerns that the deadline would not provide lenders enough time to put new policies and procedures in place," the ABA wrote Wednesday.
The changes are designed to reduce potential issues related to identity theft. The service has been around since 2006 and is used by vendors who supply lenders with income verification for prospective borrowers.
Following implementation of the new requirements, the IRS will only accept transcript requests from companies that meet the new requirements.
"The new protections in the IVES program reflect other steps being taken elsewhere in the tax system to strengthen authentication and prevent fraud," the government agency said in its announcement of the changes last week.
"While the IRS has concerns about limited areas in the program, these center on suspicious activity and customer validation issues. At issue is whether all IVES participants are always fully validating their clients, a situation we are currently investigating."
