Criminals may steal your taxefund online and there is nothing you can do to stop it. According to MSNBC's The Red Tape Chronicles your refund may be on its way to crooks while you get zip.
When Aaron Marks tried to electronically file his tax return last spring, it was rejected by IRS computers. The reason, according to the agency, was that someone had already filed a return using his Social Security number. Not to worry, an IRS operator told him on the phone, just mail in your tax return and it’ll get fixed. "(The agent) acted like there was nothing to panic about," Marks said.
But a year later, the Boston resident still doesn’t have his $2,000 tax refund.
About the same time Marks tried to file, IRS officials testified before the Senate Finance Committee about the problem of tax return ID theft. The committee heard horror stories about the ease of filing false tax returns, the criminals who essentially steal citizens' refunds, and about the thousands of Americans who sometimes spend years dealing with the fallout.
For years, tax return scams have been relatively easy to commit. Armed with a Social Security number and the right company tax ID, criminals could file a return and likely get a refund check, as long as they filed before the legitimate SSN user. In fact, many criminals exaggerated deductions or withholding amounts in the returns to get an even bigger refund check, causing further problems for the real taxpayer down the road.
Read the rest of the story at The Red Tape Chronicles.
Resources:
The IRS identity Theft page
How to Report and Identify Phishing, E-mail Scams and Bogus IRS Web Sites
Contact the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service
Tips for Choosing a Tax Preparer
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