WSJ- tax returns
Identity thieves are stealing thousands of tax return refunds that should be going to deserving tax payers. The IRS has no reason to question the fraudulent return until... the real filer goes to bat for themselves when their return is rejected because one has already been filed in their name. This scam is becoming increasingly more common and at this point is costing taxpayers an estimated $5 billion per year. And the problem is likely to continue to increase as the trend of e-filing grows. The IRS states that tax-fraud cases of identity theft have increased by 650% since 2008.
The frustrating part for the prosecutors tasked with bringing the scammers to justice is the fact that the IRS will not provide the most key piece of evidence to the prosecutors in these cases- namely the fraudulent return itself. Federal authorities and IRS criminal investigators, rather than local law enforcement, handle these types of cases and because of the volume of tasks that they must handle, it can take many months for a tax-fraud case to be resolved... with the victim being stuck in limbo the entire time. Whatever the resolution, one must be found soon as a recent report by NBC News pointed out that even after a taxpayer's account is flagged when their identity is stolen, some continue to be victims of identity theft year after year.
The IRS is not providing any means through which people people can identify themselves other than a Social Security Number when filing. The tax forms were not designed toward security and leave many avenues where people can and do explore fraudulent means of obtaining other individuals money. I feel if the IRS would set up a terminal where all filing must be entered that would cut down on these cases. Have a terminal located in all cities providing easy access to all individuals and each individual must provide identification before filing. This would certain short circuit many of these problems.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good idea but can you imagine the lines? I definitely think there needs to be something added to the process to ascertain that the individual filing with that social security # is indeed the individual who ought to be filing with that number. I am quite thankful my return has already been submitted and accepted by the IRS! Hopefully yours will be too.
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