What To Do If You’re A Victim Of Tax Fraud
You’ve probably heard stories about large companies having their data hacked. These thieves steal customer and employee information like name, address and Social Security numbers.
A while ago one of our clients who works for a large company was notified by their employer that they in fact had been hacked. Several months went by with nothing happening so they thought they had dodged a bullet.
That is until they filed their tax return. They got a note back from the IRS informing them that someone else had already filed a tax return using their name and social security number claiming a big fat refund. This fraudulent tax return was probably filed by the hackers of our client’s employer.
If you are a victim of tax fraud, namely someone else filed a tax return using your name and social security number here’s what you need to do:
• First called the IRS identity protection specialized unit the toll-free number is 800-908-4490
• Then go to the IRS website IRS.gov and download form 14039, which is the identity theft affidavit. Fill it out and then mail or fax it back to the IRS.
When your case is resolved you’ll probably get a pin number from the IRS to use when you file future tax returns. In the future using just your Social Security number to file your tax return will get your return rejected unless it includes your PIN number. Which will hopefully prevent you from being a tax fraud victim over and over again.
