As part of the Security Summit effort, stronger protections for taxpayers and the nation’s tax system have gone into effect for the 2016 tax filing season.
The new measures attack tax-related identity theft from multiple sides. Many changes will be invisible to taxpayers but help the IRS, states and the tax industry provide new protections. There will be
new security requirements when you’re preparing your taxes online, especially when you sign in to your tax software account, to better protect your tax software account and personal information.
Despite these security improvements to fight identity theft issues,
the IRS will still process nine out of 10 federal refunds within 21 days. States have their own refund processing time frames that may vary, and some states may make additional reviews to ensure refunds are being issued properly.
Source: IRS Newswire-Jan 2015