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Treasury Takes Action to Help Combat Identity Theft

Effective January 1, 2004, more than 98 percent of the checks issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS) on behalf of federal agencies will not include personal identification numbers. The types of payments include benefit payments (e.g., Social Security Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs), federal income tax refund payments, and payments to businesses for goods and services provided to the federal government.

Personal identification numbers include Social Security numbers, employee identification numbers, and other individual identifiers that agencies assign. Removing the identification numbers from checks is part of Treasury's ongoing effort to prevent and further the fight against identity theft.

The initial Treasury action will affect more than 240 million payments. Beginning in 2005, no check issued by Treasury will include a personal identification number.

For further information, contact Melody Barrett at melody.barrett@fms.treas.gov or call (202) 874-6557 in the FMS Office of Legislative and Public Affairs.