For TY2011, the Internal Revenue Service will require the manual key entry of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) as it appears on Form W-2 received from the employer for all taxpayers with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) who are reporting wages.

No software package will be allowed to utilize the auto-population feature regardless of the presence of an override feature to populate the TIN on the Form W-2 for these ITIN filers.  Per IRS Revenue Procedure 2007-40, failure to comply with this requirement could result in a written reprimand, suspension or expulsion from the e-file program.

The reason:  many times when the ITIN is entered into the e-filed return, it transfers automatically to the W-2 as an ITIN, and the Social Security number used on the W-2 is never input.  It is then hard for us to track  the identity theft of the number used on the W-2 and protect the party whose SSN is being used illegally.  Now the SSN on the W-2 will have to be entered manually.   This will only apply to ITIN returns as of this point.  So I assume when you enter an ITIN your software will warn you in some way to input the SSN used on the W-2.