Identity Tax Fraud

Identity-Tax-Fraud-Refund

Identity Tax Fraud

Tax fraud is the intentional falsification of details on a tax return by an individual or a business with the plan of limiting or even evading tax liability. In this case, identity tax fraud is just giving away false identity to avoid paying the tax required or having someone pay them instead. Identity thieves ensure that they have come up with sufficient detail from their victims, hence putting them in a rather compromising state.

There are instances when an individual files a tax return and it is rejected or even sent back to the sender by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service). In such a case, an email is received from efile.com with the notification of rejection or acceptance that is an alert if there was no tax return filed by the owner.

Personal Identifying Information

The Personal Identifying Information (PII) which includes the individuals name, Social Security Number (SSN) and any other identifying details identifies the individuals. These details are crucial and need to be well taken care of to avoid access from fraudsters who may in turn ask for a refund. Usually, the victim learns of the fraudulent act after it has occurred and is too late to react and send a tax return for the IRS to correct their information.

The IRS ensures that a notice or letter is sent to the owner notifying them of the compromise of their social security number. It is important that the reaction for this notification is acted upon wisely and keenly because the IRS does not contact the taxpayer first. Therefore, the letter should be forwarded to phishing@irs.gov to ensure that it is an actual alert.

IRS Dirty Dozen Tax Scams

Identity theft tax fraud is known to be the number one scam according to the IRS Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013. The report according to Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) done on Nov 7th, 2013 states that it takes about 312 days for the IRS to resolve tax-related theft cases. According to the report, the government loses $3.6 billion annually with over 1,400 identity theft cases. By 2014, identity theft had increased by 50% and was on the top of the Dirty Dozen Tax Scams of that year. The IRS had to come up with a special section to deal with the rising cases of identity tax fraud as well as the refund payments of victims could amount to.

Advise for Victims

Victims of such a heinous crime are advised to contact the Internal Revenue Service immediately, as well as file a report with the nearest local police agency. Documentation copies are a requisition from the complainer before the resolution of issues related to identity theft. Also, a fraud alert must be put out on all the credit reports by the victim. Besides these procedures, there is more helpful information on the website: identitytheft.gov

Protection from identity theft involves avoiding phishing. Phishing is the technique used to gather private and personal information by sending messages electronically and seeming to be coming from a reliable source. To avoid phishing, one must not give away their personal details to unknown sources. Also, bank accounts and credit cards must be kept on close surveillance to prevent unusual activity.

 

Find more information:

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0008-tax-related-identity-theft

http://www.efile.com/tax-return-identity-theft-and-refund-fraud/

http://www.revenue.state.il.us/Fraud/IdentityTheft.htm

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.