The Internal Revenue Service is rejecting some lender requests for tax-return transcripts due to a recent data breach, warned the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service in a lender alert. According to the RHS, the IRS action is meant to deter any fraud that might result from identity theft. The IRS has not responded to a request for confirmation or comment as we went to press. An IRS tax transcript is required as part of a complete loan-application package submitted to a mortgage lender to request a conditional loan commitment. The transcript contains the borrower’s tax record for the current tax year and three prior processing years. The RHS, which guarantees rural housing loans under its Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (SFHGLP), has issued guidance if a transcript request from a lender returns with the following message: “Due to limitations, the IRS is unable to ...