There’s a new kind of tax fraud in town. The story Felon Tells How He Ripped Off IRS gives the skinny on how identity thieves are scooping in on people’s tax returns, depositing the money – undetected – into their own bank accounts instead.
Though this type of fraud has been reported to the Internal Revenue Service for nearly a decade, it only set up its Identity Theft Program Office two years ago. The office has calculated how many of the 45,000 fraudulent claims received by the IRS in 2006 were filed under stolen identities. Last year alone, by the IRS tally, it sent out nearly $42 million dollars total to people other than those of us actually waiting to get our money back.
For me, this news is good reason to have returns deposited directly into checking accounts to avoid someone swiping it from the mail; follow up using the IRS’s tax return tracking feature; and, if the return isn’t received within 27 days of the IRS mailing date, launch a refund trace.
This year, make sure your refund finds its way home.
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| Jennifer D. Meacham, Gather Money Correspondent | ||||
Jennifer's column, "The Bottom Line," is published each week to Gather Essentials: Money Jennifer also covers business/personal finance for The Oregonian newspaper and real estate news for RISMedia, and co-authored the best-selling retirement investing guide "IRA Wealth: Revolutionary IRA Strategies for Real Estate Investment" (Square One Publishers, New York). Keep up on the latest news and analysis into how you can take control of your business and personal financial future by joining Jennifer's "Self-Directed Investing 101" network. | ||||
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Comments: 20
The IRS assures that it's filing system is secure, but sometimes you just can't beat insured, signed-receipt mail for peace of mind. Glad to hear you already have your refund Lee. Have you spent it/allocated it for something already?
What do you think of IRS direct electronic deposit for returns?
Or am I misinterpreting "mailing date" in the article.
And Faith, kudos to you for the invite from Kevin. I can't think of a more appropriate person than you! Right on.