According to Brenda L. Hales, Senior Tax Analyst at the Internal Revenue Service, ITIN Policy Section-M/S 97-WI, the ITIN Acceptance Agent Program includes the following changes made in 2016 and are immediately effective:

Certification Process Changes

For dependents, Certifying Acceptance Agents (CAA’s) will now be allowed to authenticate the passport and birth certificate. CAAs will continue to certify identification documents for the primary and secondary applicants. IRS Form W-7 (COA) Certificate of Accuracy for IRS Individual Identification Taxpayer Number must be attached to each Form W-7 application submitted verifying that the CAA reviewed the original documentation or a certified copy from the issuing agency of those documents. CAAs will have to attach, and send to the IRS, copies of all documentation reviewed with the Form W-7 COA. As a reminder, CAAs must generally conduct an interview with each applicant (primary, secondary and dependent) in order to complete the application. CAAs can conduct interviews with clients either through face-to-face or video conferencing (i.e. SKYPE), but the CAA must have the original identification documents in their possession during the interview in order to see the security features and authenticate the documents.

ITIN Acceptance Agent Applications Accepted Year Round

IRS Forms 13551, Application to Participate in the IRS Acceptance Agent Program, will be accepted from January through December of each year. The IRS is actively recruiting Certifying Acceptance Agents. The goal is to increase the availability of individual ITIN services throughout the nation, particularly in local communities with high ITIN usage.

The IRS will also be making changes to the Form W-7 and instructions that will go into effect for filing season 2018. Specifically:

• They plan to add a check box to indicate whether the dependent applicant is a U.S. resident or non-resident.
• They will require documentation of U.S. residency for all dependent applicants who are U.S. residents.

For this year, through the 2017 filing season, they will require documentation of U.S. residency only for dependents who are from countries other than Canada or Mexico. More information here.