Fraudulent tax returns identity theft

Tax ID theft - Fraud. Your mailing address. The same thing happened to me last year. You will have to submit documents to prove your identity and address (for example- state issued I utility bill, rental lease or receipt, SS Card) with form.

Identity theft requires a mailed in return, and those are 4-weeks.

This is why identity theft is such a bad thing - the effects last a long time. Are you monitoring your credit reports as well? When someone has enough of your personal information to file a fraudulent tax return , she can use your identity to commit other crimes. In addition to alerting the IRS, you should place a freeze on your credit report file with all three credit bureaus to prevent unauthorized accounts from being opened. Working to stop Stolen Identity Refund Fraud , or SIRF,.

Contact one of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit records: Equifax , Experian or TransUnion. Removing the fraudulent return from your tax records. Marking your tax account with an identity theft indicator , which completes our work on your case and helps protect you in the future.

You will receive notification that your case has been resolved. A taxpayer ’s SSN can be stolen through a data breach, a computer hack or a lost wallet. Fraudulent tax returns can be a headache, but they typically.

Read this guide to understanding tax fraud investigation as a result of identity fraud. This fraud is particularly pernicious because the legitimate taxpayer may have no way of knowing that fraud has been committed. Tax-related identity theft usually occurs because someone is trying to collect a tax refund you’re entitled to before you file your return and ask for it.

A thief uses your name, social security number and date of birth to file a tax return with phony wages or other income, submits the return electronically and receives the fraudulent refund via mail or direct deposit within days. The IRS will work to correct your stolen identity refund frau issue your refund (if you’re getting a refund), and protect you from future tax identity theft. This process can take as little as three months or as long as a year, depending on your circumstances. Still, too many legitimate taxpayers are getting caught up in the flagging process,.

Go to this other IRS page to learn more about tax -related identity theft. ID theft refunds from reaching suspected criminals and identified more than 260fraudulent returns involving identity theft. In this scheme, identity thieves enter stolen personal information (primarily Social Security numbers) on fraudulent tax returns that claim tax refunds.

They then cash the refund checks themselves, leaving the victims spending weeks or months trying to clear up the confusion with the IRS to get their own legitimate tax refunds. Medical professionals in ten states have become victims of identity theft , after someone used their personal information, including Social Security Number, to file fraudulent tax returns. ID theft may involve stealing someone’s Social Security number (SSN), name, bank account, or credit card numbers, and using that information without permission.

Online ID theft is called phishing.

It recommends that you take these steps immediately: Answer any IRS written notice you receive by calling the number provided on. File tax returns and pay your taxes even as the fraud is being resolved. Simply put, tax-related identity theft (or tax refund identity theft) is when someone uses a stolen Social Security number to file a tax return. Even if you actually owe taxes, the fraudsters don’t care. They can still use your Social Security number and made-up income data on fraudulent tax forms to try to trick the Internal Revenue Service into handing over a refund.

And despite IRS efforts to crack down in recent years, it still happens. The scam usually occurs when “an identity thief uses a legitimate taxpayer’s identity to file a fraudulent tax return and claim a refund.