PTIN Lists Now Available Online

PTIN Lists Now Available Online

In the past, NASBA has obtained the current Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) listing from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request each year. In turn, we provided each board with the listing data for its individual state, to support its enforcement efforts. Credentials in the PTIN listings are self-reported, so boards can use the PTIN data to cross-check for unlicensed practitioners holding out as certified public accountants.

Great news! The IRS has now made this information available online at https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/ptin-information-and-the-freedom-of-information-act.

You will find links to files containing PTIN data by jurisdiction, including the 50 U.S. states, District of Columbia, U.S. Territories, and International locations. There is also a “Consolidated PTIN List” file that contains data from all individual files accessible on the web page. Data is updated twice annually, on March 1 and September 1.

To access the PTIN information:

1. Click once on the jurisdiction for which you wish to download PTIN data.
2. A zip file will begin downloading.
3. Once the download is complete, open the folder containing the zip file.
4. Once you open the folder, you will see an Excel document entitled, “FOIA_[Jurisdiction]_extract.” Double click on the Excel file to open it.

The Excel files are in CSV format, so you will need to expand the width of some of the columns to make all the data visible.

We hope this direct access to PTIN Listings is helpful. Please consult the IRS PTIN Call Center at 877-613-7846 M-F (8:00am to 5:00pm CST) should you encounter any issues accessing the PTIN data on the IRS Website or have any questions.