If you are a victim of identity theft and lost your tax refund, here\u2019s what you can do.<\/a><\/p>\nReport your loss immediately<\/p>\n
You need to all the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 800-908-4490 and fill out some forms for the authorities to take action.\u00a0 The basic form to fill is the identity theft affidavit, or\u00a0Form 14039.\u00a0 If it was your state tax refund stolen, you should do the same thing i.e. report it immediately to your state tax agency.\u00a0 Besides the IRS, you must make a police report.\u00a0 You would need to show that you have reported your loss to the police when dealing with government agencies or credit bureaus.<\/p>\n
Submit any personal details<\/p>\n
When your identity was stolen, the thief submitted a tax return using your name.\u00a0 Once you make a report with the IRS, the agency will verify your tax returns against the one filed by the thief.\u00a0 So you need to submit any personal details for verification purposes.\u00a0 For example, you should submit your children\u2019s particulars, your marriage certificate (if married), your birth certificate, passport, driver\u2019s license and utility bills.\u00a0 The thief would not likely know your number of dependents, whether you file jointly with your spouse etc.\u00a0 This makes it easier for the IRS to verify your tax return as the genuine one and reject the one by the thief.<\/p>\n
Get a PIN number<\/p>\n
The IRS issues a PIN number for all victims of identity theft, so that they can carefully check your account going forward.\u00a0 Here in Florida, you can request for a PIN number even if you have not fallen victim to identity theft.\u00a0 It is highly recommended.<\/p>\n
Check your credit report<\/p>\n
If your identity has been stolen, the thief may not stop at getting your tax refund.\u00a0 He may use your name for credit applications.\u00a0 So get a copy of your credit report from the major credit reporting bureaus and go through it to find any wrong entries not made by you such as an account you did not open or loan you did not apply for.<\/p>\n
Obtain a credit freeze<\/p>\n
Contact the major credit reporting bureaus and request for a credit freeze under your name so that no new creditors can view your credit score and report. \u00a0You can obtain one for free when you produce a police report, it\u2019s free.\u00a0 Otherwise, you may have to pay a small fee.\u00a0 On the other hand, if you choose not to do so, you should report your situation to the major credit reporting bureaus, TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.\u00a0 This will alert them and they will thoroughly vet through any application for credit such as a credit card or loan application made under your name.<\/p>\n
Change your passwords<\/p>\n
If you have an account online in websites like TurboTax, you should change your password immediately.\u00a0 Thieves know that many people use the same password for multiple sites.\u00a0 By changing your tax preparation website password, if the thief tries to use your TurboTax password for other sites like your online bank, he would not be able to log into your account.<\/p>\n
Pray and hope<\/p>\n
Whether you are religious or not, you should pray and hope for the best.\u00a0 The IRS estimates it will take about 180 days to resolve such cases and pay you your tax refund.\u00a0 If you cannot wait that long, contact the National Taxpayer Advocate at 877-777-4778.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There's the version of tax resolution the late-night commercials sell you. Then there's how it actually works. I'm Darrin Mish, a Tampa tax attorney. I've spent 32 years on the inside of these cases. Here's the real version. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) reports a total of 1.6 million victims of identity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[593],"class_list":["post-10110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irs-help","tag-tax-identity-theft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22408,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10110\/revisions\/22408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}