I’ve set up the tax table.
Every year, my husband and I pull out a folding table to begin organizing our tax documents for the tax preparer. This time, we’re determined we won’t be among the millions of procrastinators who file on the last day.
http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html
There’s another reason to finish early: identify theft, in which someone gets your Social Security number and forges a tax return to get a refund.
The IRS has a new section on its website, irs.gov, with information on how to prevent this.
Identity thieves often submit fake returns early -which is why you might want to file early, before thieves have a chance.
Tax-refund identity theft is growing. In 2010, the Internal Revenue Service was able to remove almost 49,000 bad returns seeking fraudulent refunds of $247 million. Last year, it removed from processing almost 262,000 returns that sought almost $1.5 billion in fraudulent refunds connected to identity theft.
The IRS recently announced a crackdown. Working with the Justice Department, it targeted 105 people in 23 states suspected of stealing thousands of identities and refunds.
IRS auditors and investigators also visited 150 check-cashing facilities to investigate whether the operations were knowingly or unknowingly making it easy for criminals to commit refund fraud. The IRS said it is auditing more than 250 additional check-cashing operations.
“As fast as we are moving to update the system, there are people looking for flaws in the system,’’ spokeswoman Julianne Fisher Breitbeil said.
The IRS has designed new filters it says will improve its ability to spot false returns.
The agency is expanding a pilot program it began two years ago by marking the accounts of deceased taxpayers to prevent misuse of their names. Late last year, as part of another initiative, the IRS gave 250,000 taxpayers whose identity-theft cases have been resolved an Identity Protection Personal Identification Number, or IP PIN, to use when filing tax returns.
If you become or suspect that you are the victim of identity theft, contact the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit, toll-free at 800-908-4490. You will be asked to complete an identity-theft affidavit, which is IRS Form 14039.
Most importantly, remember that the IRS will not initiate contact with you by e-mail to request any personal or financial information. If you get such a message, ignore it and delete it.
However, don’t dismiss any IRS notice you get in the mail that indicates that more than one tax return was filed for you.
And don’t disregard an IRS notice that indicates you received wages from an employer you do not recognize.
There could be someone out there stealing your good name
