In Notice 2009-93, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced the creation of a pilot program to allow certain filers of Form 1098, Forms 1099, and Form 5498 to truncate an individual’s nine-digit identifying number on paper copies of the payee statements. The three types of numbers are the social security number, the IRS individual taxpayer identification number, and the IRS adoption taxpayer identification number. The purpose is to reduce the risk of misuse of a person’s identifying number through misappropriation from the payee statement.

There are three requirements that must be met for a filer to qualify for the pilot program. They are:

1. The identifying number is a social security number, IRS individual taxpayer identification number, or IRS adoption taxpayer identification number;
2. The identifying number is truncated by replacing the first five digits of the nine-digit number with asterisks or Xs (for example, a social security number 123-45-6789 would appear on the paper payee statement as ***-**-6789 or XXX-XX-6789); and
3. The truncated identifying number appears on a paper payee statement (including substitute and composite substitute statements) in the Form 1098 series, Form 1099 series, or Form 5498 series for calendar year 2009 or 2010.

The notice also invites public comments on specific areas. Contact Vision Payroll if you have any questions on Notice 2009-93.