Pgiam | Istock | Getty ImagesThe IRS flagged more than 1 million tax returns for potential identity theft during the 2023 tax season, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, signaling that such fraud continues to be a pervasive problem for taxpayers.Tax-related identity theft occurs when criminals use a taxpayer’s personal information to file a return in their name to claim their federal tax refund.The IRS identified nearly 1.1 million tax returns as potentially fraudulent as of March 2, according to a Treasury report issued to the public Tuesday that analyzed data partway through the filing season. The associated refunds were worth about $6.3 billion.The IRS had confirmed 12,617 of the tax returns were fraudulent as of the same date in March, Treasury reported. That figure is up from 9,626 tax returns at the same time in 2022.More from Personal Finance:Black taxpayers more likely to face audits, IRS confirmsSocial Security, federal salaries at risk in debt ceiling standoffTurboTax payments for $141 million settlement set to beginTax-related identity theft has been a problem since about 2004-05, and it “only got worse” since then, said Nina Olson, executive director and founder of the Center for Taxpayer Rights.”It went from being a one-off [thief] ripping off someone’s Social Security number to a whole scheme and organized crime,” Olson said.Identity theft was the most prevalent type of fraud that consumers reported to the Federal Trade Commission in 2022. A report issued Wednesday by the Identity Theft Resource Center found that identity crime declined in 2022, but only marginally from the all-time high hit in 2021.The IRS increased the number of filters it uses to identify potentially fraudulent tax returns since the 2022 tax season. The agency used 236 filters during the recent tax season, compared with 168 filters last year, Treasury said. Tax returns identified as fraudulent by these IRS filters are held during processing until the IRS can verify the taxpayer’s identity.”They’re trying to crack down … to make sure you’re [the one] actually filing,” said Dan Herron, a certified public accountant and certified financial planner based in …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnPgiam | Istock | Getty ImagesThe IRS flagged more than 1 million tax returns for potential identity theft during the 2023 tax season, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, signaling that such fraud continues to be a pervasive problem for taxpayers.Tax-related identity theft occurs when criminals use a taxpayer’s personal information to file a return in their name to claim their federal tax refund.The IRS identified nearly 1.1 million tax returns as potentially fraudulent as of March 2, according to a Treasury report issued to the public Tuesday that analyzed data partway through the filing season. The associated refunds were worth about $6.3 billion.The IRS had confirmed 12,617 of the tax returns were fraudulent as of the same date in March, Treasury reported. That figure is up from 9,626 tax returns at the same time in 2022.More from Personal Finance:Black taxpayers more likely to face audits, IRS confirmsSocial Security, federal salaries at risk in debt ceiling standoffTurboTax payments for $141 million settlement set to beginTax-related identity theft has been a problem since about 2004-05, and it “only got worse” since then, said Nina Olson, executive director and founder of the Center for Taxpayer Rights.”It went from being a one-off [thief] ripping off someone’s Social Security number to a whole scheme and organized crime,” Olson said.Identity theft was the most prevalent type of fraud that consumers reported to the Federal Trade Commission in 2022. A report issued Wednesday by the Identity Theft Resource Center found that identity crime declined in 2022, but only marginally from the all-time high hit in 2021.The IRS increased the number of filters it uses to identify potentially fraudulent tax returns since the 2022 tax season. The agency used 236 filters during the recent tax season, compared with 168 filters last year, Treasury said. Tax returns identified as fraudulent by these IRS filters are held during processing until the IRS can verify the taxpayer’s identity.”They’re trying to crack down … to make sure you’re [the one] actually filing,” said Dan Herron, a certified public accountant and certified financial planner based in …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
