WASHINGTON—CUNA and NAFCU have joined with other organizations in writing to Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter with concerns that a recent change to the tax transcript process could adversely impact the residential mortgage industry.
“The industry agrees with the need to protect taxpayer information and has offered on multiple occasions to work with the IRS to strengthen protocols while ensuring access to credit for consumers who desire to purchase a home,” the letter reads. “However, the recent implementation of the new multifactor authentication process was flawed in its design, implementation and communication with affected parties.
“Immediate action needs to be taken by the IRS to rectify the recent changes to avoid a material impact to taxpayers who are borrowing money to finance the purchase of their home,” the letter adds.
CUNA noted that key concerns highlighted in the letter include:
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Affected vendors were notified on a Friday afternoon that the new process would be implemented the following Monday
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No advance notification was provided that additional changes beyond multifactor authentication would be implemented at the same time
- No testing of the new processes and systems were permitted prior to the Friday announcement
“One possible solution would be to roll back the recent implementation and allocate sufficient time for the IRS and affected parties to evaluate and test proposed changes,” the letter reads. “Without an immediate resolution, we believe that the IRS change will begin affecting consumers’ ability to borrow funds to purchase homes.”