January 20, 2015
Dear Faculty and Staff,
In late February 2014, the university provided one year of credit monitoring through Experian as a result of events surrounding the use of employee personal information in the filing of false tax returns. I provided an update of that situation in a Dec. 11, 2014, email to faculty and staff, a copy of which is available on the UNI tax advisory website.
The university will be extending the credit monitoring service for one additional year. Employees who activated their code last year will not need to do anything. Experian will automatically extend the expiration date by one year. If you did not activate your code last year, you can obtain a code by stopping by the cashiers office in Gilchrist Hall (please bring your ID) beginning Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015.
All evidence points to the fact that this is not an ongoing issue of access to a university system. With another tax season upon us, other institutions, which have had similar issues, tell us that there will likely be further use of personal information that was previously obtained. If you did not read the Dec. 11 email, I encourage you to do so.
In addition to the extension of credit monitoring services, we have just become aware of a tool to assist employees with obtaining a pin number to be used in the filing of their tax return. Beginning in late December 2014, the IRS was to begin issuing CP01F notices to taxpayers who were previously designated victims of identity theft. If you were a victim and have not received one of these notices, you can access the following site www.irs.gov/getanippin to opt-in to the IP PIN Program. This tool is a pilot program, so it is only available to those individuals who have been identified as a victim of identity theft.
As part of obtaining an IP PIN (six digit number), the IRS must ensure the filer is the correct taxpayer. This is done using a new Web application at the above link where the taxpayer will be asked a series of questions only the taxpayer should be able to answer.
Once you receive your IP PIN, the protections provided by the IP PIN become effective. The sooner the IP PIN is requested, the sooner your account will be protected.
The IRS has indicated if you are unable to authenticate your identity using the online application, you should file your return as you normally would, without the IP PIN.
If you are unable to create an account at www.irs.gov/getanippin or you choose not to do so, you may contact the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 1-800-908-4490 in order to receive an IP PIN. Note: The IPSU hours of operation are: Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. your local time (Alaska & Hawaii follow Pacific Time). There is also an FAQ available at www.irs.gov/getanippin that may help answer detail questions.
The IRS has encouraged use of the online site to help get better and faster customer service for this issue without having to go to the Waterloo office.
If you have any questions, please call the UNI information line at 273-5700, which is available Monday through Friday between 8 a.m and 5 p.m.
Sincerely,
Michael Hager
Senior Vice President for Administration and Financial Services