Taxpayer Advocate Service – 10 Most Serious Problems Encountered by Taxpayers

Problem #6: DENTITY THEFT (Part II)

Taxpayer Advocate Service – 10 Most Serious Problems Encountered by Taxpayers

Problem #6: DENTITY THEFT (Part II)

EXPLANATION OF THE PROBLEM

With enough identifying information, a criminal can fraudulently file an individual or company’s tax return. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received about 2.8 million fraud and identity theft reports in2021, a 22 percent increase from the year prior. Reports of associated financial losses topped $5.9 billion in 2021, an increase of over 70 percent compared with 2020.

Identity theft is a persistent problem that affects taxpayers, the IRS, and tax administration. Many taxpayers may not even know of the theft until they try to electronically file their tax return, only to have IRS systems reject it due to a previous filing using their Social Security number. The IRS’s Identity Theft Victim Assistance (IDTVA) program, among other things, helps these taxpayers resolve their identity theft issues. Though the IRS has taken steps to prevent tax-related identity theft, its efforts have resulted in millions of taxpayers facing significant problems including refund delays. Both the IDTVA program and the IRS efforts to prevent identity theft are experiencing significant challenges, including:

• Taxpayers who are victims of tax-related identity theft often must wait nearly 19 months for the IRS to process their returns and send their refunds;

• IRS systems for detecting and preventing identity theft have struggled with high false detection rates, subjecting taxpayers who filed legitimate returns to refund delays;

• Taxpayers receive only one letter asking them to authenticate their identity when the IRS suspects an identity thief may have filed a tax return, and taxpayer response rates to these letters are low; and

• Some taxpayers are having to wait too long to receive their Identity Protection Personal Identification Numbers (IP PINs), delaying access to an underutilized tool for preventing tax-related identity theft.

For more information on this problem, please see the Taxpayers Advocacy Web page (www.TaxpayerAdvocate.irs.gov)

Next week Tuesday Tax Tip will continue the discussion on Problem #7

(www.TaxpayerAdvocate.irs.gov) (TTT 121024)