Lookup anyone's w-2's and 1099's online?

[Bay ArEA]

I have a client that is telling me her daughter is an accountant and she uses a service that lets her look-up people's w-2's, 1099's and all government filed tax forms online. As in go to one place and you will get all those forms, for anyone you have the social and address for. I have never heard of anything like this and so I told her to make sure she was hearing that right, and she came back later saying yeah, when places like Schwab file their 1099's with the government, they can check a box to make the info public, and then these services can access it. She said the IRS is pushing people in this direction. I looked around online and found no such service, it sounds very convenient, but also like a huge security risk for taxpayers. I'm either out of the loop, or she is not understanding this right. Have any of you heard of anything like this?

[Jiggers]

I have a client that is telling me her daughter is an accountant and she uses a service that lets her look-up people's w-2's, 1099's and all government filed tax forms online. As in go to one place and you will get all those forms, for anyone you have the social and address for. I have never heard of anything like this and so I told her to make sure she was hearing that right, and she came back later saying yeah, when places like Schwab file their 1099's with the government, they can check a box to make the info public, and then these services can access it. She said the IRS is pushing people in this direction. I looked around online and found no such service, it sounds very convenient, but also like a huge security risk for taxpayers. I'm either out of the loop, or she is not understanding this right. Have any of you heard of anything like this?

I doubt if you have the whole story.

You can access that information from the IRS using e-services, if you have a POA.

As far as Schwab making information public, I doubt if that is true. Who in their right mind would check a box to make their investments public?

[taxea]

I can think of so many possibilities on how what might be necessary to do this.. To make it simpler I would ask her for something in writing that explains this as it could be very beneficial to you as a preparer.
When you get accurate information please share it with the rest of us.

I grabbed this from the Wells Fargo investment site. This is the only way I know of for the public to see investment account information and it requires authorization of the account holder.

"•Grant online access to your brokerage accounts to any individuals you choose. You specify their level of access – view only, full, or limited trading capabilities. And for added security, authorized individuals create their own usernames and passwords to access your account. "

As for third party reporting to the IRS. I seriously doubt this can be obtained other than through E-Services with a power of attorney. Why would the IRS provide public access when the require a POA from the owner of the account to access any IRS information.

[Roberts]

With a SSN, I've gotten K-1s for clients directly from the transfer agents. A lot of my clients have Master Limited Partnerships and less and less are actually sending out the K-1s and require the client to go get them online. Sadly, the security is pretty pathetic.

I've never gotten 1099's or W2's. I own a broker/dealer and I can guarantee you, our 1099's are NOT available to the public through an easy to access service. A client can download a .pdf of their 1099 but there isn't a centralized service for accountants to log into and get the information.

[Gene V]

W-2 Express

There is a company that lets you get your w-2 online, the employer has to sign up with the company, then you use a pass word and etc. I did this a few years ago for one of my clients.

https://www.w2express.com/

[Bay ArEA]

Yeah, none of these seem like what the taxpayer was describing to me, I'll have to drill her for more information. The thing she was talking about was like IRS e-services, but with no POA needed, and the info is available online just weeks after the w-2's are filed. I know not even the IRS gets the records in their computer that fast, and frankly is seems like too big of a security threat to be real.

[taxea]

It was probably one of "they" people. You know the ones the client gets info from and then comes to you and tells you "they" said I could. I would love to hear what the documentation is that her source has.

[outwest]

There are some private portals

provided by larger payroll providers and by Intuit I believe, where employees can retrieve their w2s. Some tax software can also retrieve this I think. I've just never been hot on that but I seem to recall this.

It's not the IRS, but a optional private service.

I think... maybe...

[powerage]

ADP, TALX and CIC Plus make W-2's available online. With ADP though, if the client log in fails 3 times, they are locked out the rest of the year.

[taxea]

Original poster said the sites that provide are open to the public not restricted sites for employees.

[outwest]

I didn't necessarily read that the OP that anyone could fish around.

I took it that if the employer participated, then tax pros with the proper information from the client could retrieve it.

Some in the general public not used to careful use of the language figure anyone can get anything this way. True to a point; anyone can get anything (if the employer loaded it and if they have the ID information to retrieve it)

By that logic, anyone can get into anyone's online bank account (if you know the logins)

On the other hand, I might be making some assumptions myself...