Identity Thieves Stealing IRS Refunds
Newmax
With the April 15 income tax filing deadline having just passed, many Americans in the coming weeks are apt to find that when it comes to their expected IRS tax refunds, the check is not in the mail.
That is due to tax-related identity theft, a real and growing problem. The IRS said it assisted more than 800,000 suspected victims of this type of theft last year alone.
According to the latest figures available, the IRS lost an estimated $8.5 billion to fraudulent refunds in 2013 and stopped another $24.2 billion in false refunds from being paid.
In fiscal 2014, the IRS initiated 1,063 identity theft-related investigations, resulting in 748 prison sentences with an average length of 43 months.
Taxpayers expecting a refund can be surprised to receive notice that a tax return for them already has been submitted by someone other than the taxpayer.
Tax-related identity theft occurs when someone steals a Social Security number and uses it to file a tax return claiming a false refund, the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) explained.
These bogus filings report false wage and tax withholding information, and are typically made early in the year before employers are required to provide data to the IRS that the agency could use to reconcile the reported numbers and identify a false claim.
Taxpayers usually don't find out that they have become victims until they attempt to file a return, and resolving the problem with the IRS and receiving a refund can take the better part of a year.
Victims should contact the IRS immediately, and the NCPA also recommends that if you find yourself a victim of this identity theft, "you'll have to file a report with law enforcement, contact the Federal Trade Commission, contact the credit bureaus to place a fraud alert, contact your financial institutions, and check with the Social Security Administration."
To reduce the risk of having your Social Security number compromised, the IRS advises Americans not to carry their Social Security card or any document with their SSN on it, and not to give a business a SSN just because they ask for it — provide it only when absolutely necessary.
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