This document contains temporary and final regulations that allow income tax return preparers to elect an alternative to their social security number (SSN) for purposes of identifying themselves on returns they prepare. The regulations are needed to implement changes made to the applicable law by the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998. The regulations affect individual preparers who elect to identify themselves using a number other than their SSN. The text of the temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations set forth in the notice of proposed rulemaking on this subject in the Proposed Rules section in this issue of the Federal Register.