New Requirement for Efiling in New York State

This year, the New York State Department of Taxation is requiring that all efiled New York returns include driver's license (or other state-issued identification) information on any returns filed electronically with the state. Required information includes the driver's license number as well as the issue date, the expiration date, and an 8- or 10-digit alphanumeric document number which is either on the front of the license next to the expiration date, or, for licenses issued after January 28, 2014, on the back of the license under the bar code. It's a teeny tiny number that I imagine, for some people with less than perfect eyesight, may be hard to find.

The impetus for asking for this information is to stem the tide of fraudulent returns filed. Although I could see the point of asking for this information if the taxpayer has a refund coming, for people like me who owe NYS at tax time, it's unlikely that anyone would file a fraudulent return for me and pay my tax due. Of course, if they want to, I'd be happy if they did! Here's to a great tax season in 2017!