Although there is no way to completely protect yourself from identity theft or tax return fraud, here are some suggestions that may definitely keep you from becoming a victim:

• Shred your personal information before you throw it away
• Do not reply to emails asking for personal information (they usually pose as your bank or credit card company
• Do NOT give your credit card or social security number to anyone who initiates contact and solicits goods or services to you over the phone or by email
• Do not give your personal info or credit card number to people from overseas who claim they are going to remove a virus from your computer
  • they are usually the ones who put the virus there in the first place
• Use a paid email service provider

• Be careful who you wire money to
• Stay away from public computers as much as possible
• Make sure your WiFi network is secure
• Change your computer passwords every few months
• Research any charity before giving them your money or information
• Check your credit once a year for unusual activity
  • The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. (you do not have to sign up for a membership or pay anything for this – It is your right)
  • To order, visit annualcreditreport.com, call 1-877-322-8228. Or download the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

Things that don’t typically put you at risk for identity theft:

• Electronic bill paying
• Online banking (these sites are extremely secure)

Things that do NOT work to prevent identity theft:

• Expensive or any fraud protection software installed on your computer
• Calling your credit card company and having no identifiable information to provide them with and then denying them your social security number over the phone.
• Expensive fraud protection services

I hope this helps!  If I missed any, let me know.

The post What Can I Do To Prevent Identity Theft appeared first on Hacked By Turbo Tax.

One would think that the IRS would not expect a person to submit information they have no possible way of having access to – but that would be, as my mother would say, too much like right.

Nevertheless, it seems there are some options so keep hope alive!  You can call the IRS and beg them to give you the AGI that the thief reported OR you have the option of obtaining an IRS PIN.  There are two options for obtaining this PIN and all of this information is copied directly from the IRS.gov website:

• Visit the Electronic Filing Pin-Help
• Call 1-866-704-7388.

To be eligible to use these two options you (or I guess “the thief”) must have:

• Filed a 2011 Form 1040, Form 1040-A, Form 1040-EZ or Form 1040-SS (PR); and
• Your return was processed by November 30, 2012.

And you must have:

• Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number;
• First and Last Name;
• Date of Birth;
• Filing Status; and
• Complete mailing address as it appeared on your 2011 tax return.

How in the hell someone finds out what form their tax return thief chose or what address they used is beyond my bag of tricks.  I would take a chance and assume I fit the eligibility requirements and either file for the PIN electronically or call them.

You are probably going to need to call them due to their ridiculous stipulations.  If you cannot get the IRS PIN then you should definitely ask the IRS representative if they would be able to give you the AGI submitted by the idiot who stole your identity – a few of my readers were able to get the IRS to give up the AGI submitted by their thief.

I hesitate to say, “If all else fails, file by mail”,  because I can just imagine filing by mail and waiting two to three months for the IRS to send you a letter (by mail) telling you that your return was rejected for the same “adjusted gross income” situation.

I hope this helps!  Good luck!

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The title of the document is “2012 Annual Report to Congress” and was put together by the Taxpayer Advocate Service. Wow, I didn’t even know we had one of those! Yes, I know. I don’t know everything and probably know closer to next to nothing, but at least I try.

Anyway, this executive summary is 78 pages long and I definitely don’t have time to read it all. However, I did read a few of the key pages that pertain to us “tax return/identity theft” victims and was proud to see that the Taxpayer Advocates were going in on the IRS like Frank Ocean went in on Chris Brown’s body guard outside a Westlake studio in LA.

Under the heading “Victims of Identity Theft and Other Vulnerable Taxpayers” you will find the following articles beginning on page six.

• The IRS Has Failed to Provide Effective and Timely Assistance to Victims of Identity Theft
• The IRS Harms Victims of Return Preparer Misconduct by Failing to Resolve Their Accounts Fully
• Despite Some Improvements, the IRS Continues to Harm Taxpayers by Unreasonably Delaying the Processing of Valid Refund Claims that Happen to Trigger Systemic Filters

All I can say to these article topics is “Damn Skippy”.

I went to the Taxpayer Advocate Services’ (TAS) website and found out that you can submit tax reform suggestions, seek help for low income tax payers and even submit a request to improve IRS customer service – you will find these options in their right sidebar. Pretty cool.

Watch the video about their report:

If you have some extra time on your hands, you may want to download the 2012 Annual Report to Congress. It is very informative and aside from tax return fraud and identity theft situations there are other relevant topics concerning the state of the IRS and how some of these issues are being addressed.

Hopefully, I will be back with some answers to last year’s AGI problem, if one of my readers doesn’t beat me to it. I may even submit the AGI problem as a suggestion on the TAS website.

Thank you Taxpayer Advocate Service!

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We all know what time it is don’t we?  Its tax return filing time.  Some of us have been fortunate enough to have received the tax return dividends we had ripped from up under our noses last year and some of us unfortunately have not.

If your tax return was stolen last year and you’ve been able to stay on the IRS’ ass, then you may have received your IRS PIN number.  If you haven’t, then you need to get back on their ass and ride them like untamed mare until they send you your pin number.  I got mine in December just as they promised.  I’m hoping that this will rectify the issue of some idiotic thief being able to steal my tax return another year.

The good news is (or at least it seems that way) that with this IRS PIN number, you should be able to file your return electronically.  I’m almost afraid to do it electronically, but what the hell, after all the research I’ve done on the whole IRS electronic filing process it seems like its not the initial electronic process that’s responsible for your or my tax return being stolen, its more or less the fact that the IRS has not taken the proper steps to review and verify tax payers documentation before winding out a check – and its not that they never verify it, its that they send out the checks first and then verify the information six months down the road.  In other words, the IRS policies help fuel tax return fraud.

You can even request a IRS PIN number for electronic filing of future returns even if you haven’t been a victim of fraud.

So here I go with my little PIN number in my hand and with hope in my heart ready to file my tax return electronically.  Wish me luck and the same goes out to you.  I will keep you updated as to how my situation turns out.  If you’d like to read more about how I managed to finally got my 2011 stolen tax return, you can find that in a previous post.

And for your entertainment:  This thing (woman or whatever you want to call it) was able to get 2.1 million dollars in money from the IRS using TurboTax as a tool for identity theft.  An IRS employee approved the refund!  Go figure!  How she got caught?  Turns out it “she” lost the credit card with all the money loaded onto it and applied for a replacement (shaking my head).

Talk to you soon!

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Julie’s questions were:

Do people find out who steal their tax refund?  Is this a long process?

This is my response to Julie’s questions:

Some people do find out who stole their tax returns – them finding out is typically not on purpose. Every once in a while a police officer or someone at the IRS will slip up and tell you or you may find out by some other means. But neither law enforcement or the IRS are legally allowed to tell you. I am guessing this is to avoid you tracking someone down and ringing their damn neck.

As far as how long the entire process takes – well it took me only seven months. I consider seven months a very short time within which to have this issue resolved. I have heard of people waiting up to two years to receive their stolen tax returns. The average time-frame seems to be somewhere around one year.

My suggestion is to be patient and to continue to follow-up with the IRS every two weeks. When you are following up with them, try not to act like an asshole on the phone (trust me, I was very tempted to act like an ass because I was so upset), and be very detailed about what you are telling them. If you show them respect, they will be more likely to assist you or go the extra mile.

Keep records of everything you spoke about and who you need to follow up with or which department you need to speak to next. Get the phone numbers of the departments they transfer you to and the names of the persons that will be handling the next phase of your situation. Ask them how long it usually takes for this phase of the process to be handled.

Make sure you follow their instructions and make sure they do what they say they are going to do by following up with them on your next phone call. A lot of the steps they need to take get lost in the shuffle but when you call them back to remind them of what they said they were going to do and you can provide them with detailed information about it, they will typically make sure they get it done on that second phone call – at least this is what worked for me.

Last but not least, ask for a confirmation of what they’re doing and make sure you have some way to track whatever you are mailing or faxing them when possible.

I hope this helps!

p.s. – I would love to find out who created the snazzy image I used in this post so that I may give them credit.  I found the image here: http://thebigotbasher.com/2011/05/02/hell-freezes-over-rush-limbaugh-praises-president-obama/

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Identity Thief Official Trailer #1 (2013) – Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy Movie HD

Sh*t black people say at tax season – by:  Joshua Adams

Sh*t people say & do during Income tax  – by:  DAMRrcommodoretube

Who gets to claim the kids:  Helpful hints from The Bigg Sherlie Show

Tax Season VS Baby Daddy (warning contains a lot of very bad language)

I hope you enjoyed the break from all the negativity.  I know I did!

Thanks to the very funny artists who put these videos together for our entertainment!

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So after about 15 follow-up phone calls, patience and making sure that I made sure that the next step of the process was completed and following up on that, I was finally able to get it back.  It seems to me that the main step of the process is getting your case assigned to an IRS fraud case worker – this was the part that took the longest.  Once I got a caseworker she was very much on the case and made things happen as long as I followed up with her.

In a nutshell, what I would suggest is to continually follow up with them and remind them of what needs to be done next or to do whatever needs to be done next.   I even got my letter declaring that I was a victim of identity theft and another letter stating that I would receive my PIN to file for this year in December.

Now that this part is over, it still isn’t all over.  Unfortunately the idiots who stole my tax return filed it in another state and put down that I was married.  How does this affect someone you might ask?  Well, I just completed one degree and went to sign up for school for a second degree and guess what?  Since these idiots filed my tax return in California my school thinks I am not a resident and are asking me to pay out-of-state tuition fees.  I have never left Florida – Ever!  And to make matters worse they are asking for my spouses returns or employment information.  I’ve never had a spouse.  So to prove all of this they are asking for my tax return transcripts.  You’re gonna love this one – the IRS wont or claim they cannot cough up my tax return transcripts because the only one they can generate is the one from the first tax return submitted to them which would be that of the thief’s!

Isn’t life wonderful?

When I get this one worked out, I will let you know how I did it.  In the meantime, good luck with your identity theft situation.  And for those of you reading this that like to steal from other struggling people, I’d like to say – your mother really should have aborted you – Really!

And, oh yeah, although I used Turbo Tax every year to file my tax return, I have no idea how these morons stole my identity.  Apparently no one is safe no matter how they file their returns and identity theft is rampant all over the United States in this day and age. Hopefully the IRS, credit bureaus, etc., will come up with a better way to protect and deal with stolen identities.

Photo thanks to:   Jewish Women’s Archive. “Woman in field with rainbow.” (Viewed on December 5, 2012) <http://jwa.org/node/16101>.

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The post Finally Got My 2011 Tax Return Refund appeared first on Hacked By Turbo Tax.

After holding (on speakerphone of course) for a little over 15 minutes in an attempt to reach the Identity Theft section of the IRS, I was greeted by a very nice representative who verified that I was who I said I was through a series of identification questions and then proceeded to tell me that “Yes” they (the IRS) have received my affidavit and information through the mail.  I also asked if I would actually get my return and if so when might I expect it or if he might have an estimated time-frame.  He assured me that I would definitely receive it eventually but that the time-frame could vary anywhere from four months to a little over a year.  I also inquired about the possibility of receiving a PIN number to avoid future incidents and he told me that PIN numbers would be issued somewhere around November for current victims to avoid repeat victimization on subsequent tax returns.

He (the IRS representative) seemed or sounded very nervous when I began to question him.  I didn’t want him to feel like I was picking on him because it definitely is not his fault that the IRS has failed to handle their business.

I found it amusing that I had to answer so many identification questions just to find out if they received my information – If the identity thief were asked about half these questions before being handed my money no one would have this problem and billions of dollars would not be floating around amongst the pockets of lazy, entitled, scum of the earth.

Billions?  Did I say “Billions”?   Yes, I did!  According to our very own Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George The toll is nearing the billions that could be raked in within the next five years because the IRS cannot keep up.  You can read more about that in this article on CNN.com by Scott Zamost:  Identity thieves could rake in $26 billion in tax refunds

By the way, if you are a victim of identity theft because of a stolen tax return do not bother to call the “Where is my Refund” section of the IRS or the “Customer Service” division.  Call this number:  800-908-4490 between 7am and 7pm, Monday thru Friday and be prepared for a long wait.

Good Luck!

The post How Bad Will It Need to Get Before the IRS Asks the Thief for Identification? appeared first on Hacked By Turbo Tax.

A very interesting article titled “Identity thieves will rake in billions in stolen tax refunds this year” at Nextgov.com states that, “For the past five years, the IRS has received negative audits from the Government Accountability Office for ongoing security weaknesses that could compromise sensitive taxpayer information” -  some of these statements were from the prepared testimony of J. Russell George, the Treasury Department inspector general for tax administration himself.

This article goes on to say that a significantly greater amount of returns based on false income get through than the amount prevented and/or detected by the IRS.  And that many of these false returns or fraudulent returns are forged by IRS employees.

And damn,  “The IRS does not analyze much data from identity theft cases for patterns that could be followed to prevent future refund fraud.”

All I can say is “Nice” and Really?

Not to mention, their (IRS) computer vulnerabilities are deplorable.

More about that gem here:  IRS plagued by computer vulnerabilities five consecutive years

Read and download the last two IRS audits for yourself: (click on link and a new page will open then click link a second time to save or open for viewing)

1. 2012 Report to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue
2. 2011 Report to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue

You’ve got to read this article by: By Aliya Sternstein 04/19/2012 (well you don’t have to, but its very informative)

There’s your tax dollars working for you!

The post IRS Tax Return Fraud 2012 – The Shits Finally Hitting the Fan appeared first on Hacked By Turbo Tax.

If you’re like hundreds of thousands of others who have already filed their tax returns promptly and have discovered that some crook has already filed one for you, then you’re probably pretty upset and have good reason to be.

If you’re just sending out your tax return today, then you have a very good chance of becoming a victim yourself.

How will you know if you are a victim?

If you file electronically you will most likely receive a message from the electronic filing system that a duplicate social security number has been detected or that a tax return has already been filed using your social security number.

If you file by mail, it may be weeks or even months before you even find out you’re a victim.  You will receive a letter that says, “more than one tax return was filed for you” or states “you received wages from an employer you don’t know”.   And then it will be more months or even, in some cases, a year or two before you will actually get your tax return.

What should you do if you become a victim?

If you file electronically:

• Unfortunately you will need to call the IRS to determine whether or not this message is indeed due to identity theft.
• Be prepared to hold and be on the phone for at least an hour (don’t do this on your lunch break)
• They will tell you to file a police report.  However there has been so much identity theft and tax return fraud this year that most police departments will not even take a report.
• If your local police department will not take a report don’t worry about it – it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway.
• Read this article “Tax Refund Stolen” on what to do (scroll halfway down the page and start with line item number 7)

After following these directions, be prepared for a very, very long wait.  From what I understand, you will eventually get your tax return and in some cases with interest tacked onto it.  The problem is when?  And that “when” is averaging somewhere around at least six months to two years.

Last night I did an interview with Scott Cohn of CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on tax return fraud and identity theft and he brought up some very important issues that I really hadn’t had a chance to think about regarding identity theft – those things being the long-term effects or aftermath of identity theft and how it might continue to affect its victims.

When Scott asked me this question it made me think of things like, what will happen if because of this tax return fraud/identity theft:

• Your income is reported wrong and you temporarily lose certain medical benefits because of a sliding scale medical insurance program
• Your work record is tainted by reports of incorrect employers, which subsequently become part of some public record system and this causes you not to get a job because an employer thinks you have submitted false information
• You apply for financial aid and are deemed ineligible due to incorrect income reports
• Your child support is adjusted due to incorrect income reports

The list could go on-and-on.

As I mentioned in my interview, the IRS is similar to credit bureaus in that it’s really easy for negative or erroneous information to appear and stay on your report but you’re going to play HELL trying to get anything removed or eradicated.

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