Taxpayers abroad can hold an Identity Protection PIN, a six-digit number issued yearly, and the IRS says so in terms. Nobody in a British household is obliged to enrol unless the IRS has assigned them one. Once a PIN exists, though, it belongs to one person, and an e-filed Form 1040 needs the current number for everyone on it who holds one, children included.
This post is for US citizens and green card holders in Britain running the PINs of a whole family: their own, a non-US spouse's and any children's. It supports our guide to US and UK tax returns for Americans in the UK. We cover who holds what, the fallbacks when online proofing fails, a lost number and a rejected e-file. The login itself is dealt with in our post on the IRS online account from the UK, and we do not repeat it.
Who in a UK household needs an IP PIN
Only someone the IRS has assigned one, or someone who chooses to enrol. Anyone with a Social Security number or ITIN who can prove their identity may join. The number is personal, so one family can hold several PINs, and a person with neither taxpayer number cannot hold one at all.
The IRS page on getting a PIN (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) makes enrolment voluntary for most people and automatic for confirmed identity theft victims. Its FAQs (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) set the rule that decides the household's workload: each taxpayer who has a PIN must enter it on the return, and on an e-filed return that extends to claimed dependants. A family therefore takes on a yearly job for every member enrolled, and the decision is best made person by person.
The non-US spouse is the case people most often get wrong. A spouse shown as NRA on a married filing separately return has no number, so there is nothing to enrol, as our post on an ITIN for your British spouse explains. A spouse with an ITIN may enrol, but the Form 15227 route calls for a valid number. An ITIN expires after three consecutive tax years (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) off a federal return, so check it first and use Form W-7 to renew if needed.
- US citizen or green card holder: holds a PIN only if assigned or enrolled
- Joint-filing spouse with an ITIN: enters their own PIN if they hold one
- Spouse shown as NRA on a separate return: no number, so no PIN
- Dependant aged 18 or over: can enrol alone, and must share the PIN if claimed on an e-file
- Dependant under 18: a parent or guardian applies, and online enrolment is closed
What are the options when online identity proofing fails from Britain
After the online route, the IRS offers Form 15227, then an in-person appointment at a Taxpayer Assistance Center. Neither is written with Britain in mind. If you were enrolling by choice, a further option is to stay out for now, because nothing requires a PIN you were never assigned.
Start by checking which provider you tried. The IRS page on creating an account (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) says Login.gov requires a Social Security number, and it recommends ID.me to people with an ITIN or living outside the US. A British spouse should note that the page's passport references are to US passports, and it is silent on a British one. The ID.me help for ITIN holders is the place to check that before a video appointment.
Form 15227 (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) is an application with an income ceiling on your last filed return, set in the form, and the IRS telephones the applicant to verify them. Its January 2026 revision has boxes for city, state and ZIP code, no box for a country, and asks for a number reachable on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. your local time. It lists a postal address and a fax number, while the FAQs speak of submitting it online, so check the current instructions before sending. The form and the IRS web pages are silent on UK addresses and UK phone numbers. The PIN usually comes by post in four to six weeks.
The IRS international contact page (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) says service at foreign posts has ended, so the practical version of this route is an appointment during a visit to the US. You bring a federal or state picture ID and one further document, plus two documents for a dependant, and the PIN usually follows by post within three weeks. The IRS says a tax professional cannot request a PIN for a client.
- Online: ID.me for an ITIN holder or anyone living abroad
- Form 15227: below the income ceiling, with a working phone, and no PIN already assigned
- In person: a US appointment with documents, during a planned trip
Why is a child's PIN harder to keep up from the UK
Because an under-18 cannot use the online account at all, and a child who files no returns may get no yearly letter. On the IRS wording, the household may have to telephone each year for a number posted to Britain, and that service closes for part of the winter.
The IRS retrieval page (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) lists three cases with no mailed CP01A notice: online enrolment after 2019, no valid address on file, and no return filed in the last three years. A British nine-year-old with a Social Security number who has never filed fits the last case. Form 15227 itself promises a notice each January, so the two texts do not sit neatly together. Treat the letter as a bonus and diarise the call regardless.
That cost should be weighed before enrolling a child. The strong case is a real concern, such as a child's number having already been misused, and there the IRS may have assigned the PIN anyway. For a child with no problem on the account, the benefit is less obvious. Paper returns need no dependant PIN.
How a missing PIN plays out in a December filing
Take a US citizen employed in Bristol, filing jointly with a British husband who has an ITIN, with a 12-year-old enrolled the year before. Their preparer finishes on 2 December, inside the further extension to 15 December. The e-file bounces because the child's PIN is missing.
The parents had noted their own PINs on 3 November, before online access closed for the season, which the IRS says generally runs from mid-January to mid-November. No letter came for the child, who has never filed. A phone request now fails too, since mail reissue is generally unavailable from about November to mid-January, and the 21-day post time would not fit in any case. So 13 days remain, with no way of obtaining the third number.
The FAQs supply the exit. A paper return does not ask for a dependant's PIN, so the couple write their two numbers in the signature area and post it. Paper takes longer to process, and the parents need to allow for international post and keep proof of posting. Had they called in September, the child's number should have arrived before the preparer finished. A further extension (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) is discretionary, so this calendar applies only if the request was made and granted.
How do you recover a lost IP PIN from the UK
Sign in and read it from the Profile page if you have an account. Otherwise call the IRS on 267-941-1000, which is not toll-free. If the assistor verifies you, the number is posted within 21 days to the address on file. Do not file Form 15227, which is for new applicants only.
The line runs on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time, which opens at about late morning UK time and covers the evening. The address on file is the weak point, because the number will go there. If that is still an old American address, update it first on Form 8822. A change takes several weeks to process, so a move to Britain belongs on the same list as the PIN. Reissue by post is not offered in the first calendar year of an opt-in.
The IRS has a last resort for someone who can neither obtain the number by post nor reach an online account: send a paper return without it. The IRS will review the return to confirm who filed, which may delay any refund. The IP PIN does not prove identity on a call, as the FAQs note, so have a prior return to hand. Calls, emails or texts asking you for the PIN are scams, including during a Form 15227 callback.
What should you do when an e-file is rejected for an IP PIN
Read the reject code first, because the IRS says it shows whose PIN is required: yours, your spouse's or a dependant's. Then enter the current number and transmit again. If you cannot do that in time, the return has to go on paper, and the timing rules below start to matter.
The Internal Revenue Manual (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) allows five calendar days after the due date to correct and retransmit a timely Form 1040 family return. That applies to the due date in play, including 15 June or 15 October. If it cannot be corrected, a paper return counts as timely when filed by the later of the due date or ten calendar days after the IRS gives notice of the rejection, with a written explanation of why it is late.
A wrong year is an easy mistake to miss. The IRS says the current-year number goes on any federal return filed that year, so a 2023 return filed in 2026 takes the 2026 PIN. The same goes for an amended return on Form 1040-X. Your FBAR is filed with FinCEN and is not on the IRS list of forms that take a PIN.
What does a yearly IP PIN routine look like for a family
One adult keeps a short calendar with a line for each person who holds a PIN. It runs from January, when numbers change, to mid-November, when online access generally stops. The order below is our own construction from the IRS rules, and it assumes a return extended past the usual date.
Hand over numbers only when the return is ready to send, since the IRS tells taxpayers to keep the PIN safe until then. Our individual tax returns service needs each number at that point and no sooner. If the routine is not worth keeping, the FAQs allow someone who joined voluntarily and has never been a victim to check whether they may opt out, then wait up to 72 hours before e-filing without a PIN. The guide for Americans in the UK sets out the rest of the annual cycle.
- Mid to late January: adults and over-18s read new numbers from their accounts
- February: watch for a CP01A letter, and telephone for any child's number
- Before 15 June: check the address on file and any ITIN on the return
- Early November: write down every number still needed for a return this calendar year
- Each December: review who should stay enrolled for the coming year
General information, not advice. The right answer depends on your circumstances and the tax year concerned.
