Forgot Your IRS PIN? How to Recover It

Identify Which IRS PIN You Forgot

The IRS uses several credentials that people may call a PIN. Before starting recovery, check which one is missing.

An Identity Protection PIN, or IP PIN, is a six-digit number issued by the IRS to help prevent someone else from filing a federal tax return under your Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. The IRS generates a new IP PIN each calendar year.

An IP PIN is not your IRS Online Account password. It is also different from the five-digit self-select PIN used to sign an electronic return and from the adjusted gross income shown on a prior-year return. Those credentials have separate purposes and recovery procedures.

If you searched for “forgot IRS PIN,” “forgot my IRS PIN,” “forgot PIN IRS,” or “forgot my PIN IRS,” look at the screen or rejection notice that stopped you. A request for a six-digit Identity Protection PIN means you need the steps below. A password prompt or request for prior-year adjusted gross income does not.

Retrieve Your Identity Protection PIN Online

The official recovery route is through your IRS Individual Online Account. Start on the IRS website, find the page titled “Get an identity protection PIN,” and choose the option to sign in. Do not use a link from an unexpected email, text, advertisement, or social media message.

1. Sign in to your existing account. If you do not have one, follow the prompts to create an account and verify your identity.
2. Open the Profile section after signing in.
3. Find the section labeled “Identity Protection PIN” or “IP PIN.”
4. View the current six-digit IP PIN and record it securely.

To create and verify an account, you need a Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, a personal email address, and a valid government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license, state ID, passport, or passport card. You also need a supported multifactor authentication method.

The self-service identity check asks for an image of your identification and a selfie taken with a smartphone or a computer with a camera. An assisted video-verification option may also be offered. Follow only the instructions displayed through the official IRS sign-in process.

Online retrieval is for a person who has already been issued an IP PIN and can verify their identity. If you enrolled online, you generally must return to the account to view each year’s new PIN rather than expect a mailed notice.

What to Do If Online Retrieval Does Not Work

First, check whether the problem is with account access rather than the IP PIN itself. Use the sign-in provider’s official help options for a forgotten password, lost multifactor authentication method, rejected identification image, or identity-verification error. Do not create multiple accounts to work around an error.

If the IRS has already issued you an IP PIN but you cannot retrieve it online, use the IRS specialized assistance channel for a lost or missing IP PIN. Find it on the official IRS page titled “Frequently asked questions about the identity protection personal identification number,” under the question about a lost PIN or one that did not arrive. The representative will verify your identity before arranging for the PIN to be reissued by mail to the address in IRS records.

Form 15227 is an application for eligible people who do not already have an IP PIN. It is not the recovery form for a PIN that was previously assigned. Do not submit it merely because the current PIN was lost.

If your address has changed, tell the IRS representative. A mailed replacement goes to the address of record, so an outdated address can prevent delivery. If the official IRS instructions direct you to an in-person Taxpayer Assistance Center, use the IRS locator and appointment information on its own website and review the listed identity-document requirements before visiting.

Using a Reissued or Retrieved PIN

Use the current six-digit IP PIN when filing a federal individual income tax return during the calendar year, including a prior-year or amended return filed during that year. Do not reuse last year’s number.

Tax software should prompt for the IP PIN. On a paper return, enter it in the box labeled “Identity Protection PIN” in the signature area. Give it to a trusted tax professional only when that person is preparing and submitting your return.

Each taxpayer who has been assigned an IP PIN must use that person’s own number. For an electronic joint return, enter the correct PIN for each spouse who has one. An electronic return must also include an assigned IP PIN for a dependent where the filing forms require it. A dependent’s IP PIN is not entered on a paper return.

Common mistakes include:

• Entering a five-digit filing PIN instead of the six-digit IP PIN.
• Using an IP PIN from a previous calendar year.
• Putting one spouse’s PIN in the other spouse’s field.
• Leaving out the IP PIN assigned to a spouse or dependent on an electronic return.
• Adding spaces, dashes, or transposed digits.

A missing or incorrect IP PIN can cause an electronic return to be rejected or a paper return to be delayed while the IRS verifies it.

Protect Your IRS Account and PIN

Store the PIN in a secure password manager, locked file, or other private location. Keep it separate from a visible copy of your Social Security card or tax documents. Protect your IRS account with a unique password and multifactor authentication, and never share its sign-in credentials.

The IRS says it will not call, email, or text to ask for your IP PIN. Treat such a request as an impersonation attempt. Do not reply, open attachments, follow the supplied link, or give the sender personal information.

To review or report suspicious contact, go directly to the IRS website and find its “Tax scams” or “Report fake IRS, Treasury or tax-related emails and messages” page. Use the reporting instructions shown there.

Contact IRS Support

For help with a lost IP PIN, use the specialized assistance information published on the official IRS IP PIN FAQ page. For an online-account verification problem, use the help option displayed by the official sign-in provider. This distinction helps route the problem correctly.

Before contacting support, prepare your full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, current mailing address, and the address shown on your most recently filed return. Have any CP01A notice, IRS letter, online error code, or electronic-return rejection code available.

Contact the IRS only through details you locate yourself on its official website or on a genuine notice you can verify there. An IRS employee may ask questions to confirm your identity, but your IP PIN itself is not proof of identity.