Tag Archives: IdentityTheft

The Trouble With Identity Protection Verification Notices

The IRS sends two types of Identity Protection Verification Letters: LTR 4883C and LTR 5071C.  If you receive a LTR 4883C, you must call the IRS’s Identity Protection unit so that your return is processed.  If you receive a LTR … Continue reading

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Please Don’t Do This!

Joe Kristan tweeted the following last weekend: When a taxpayer emails his IP-PIN letter as an unencrypted attachment after his ID has been stolen… pic.twitter.com/oZIdYMZGnE — Joe Kristan (@joebwan) January 8, 2017 As I was going through my emails this … Continue reading

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Third Party Transcript Requests Reportedly Will No Longer be Processed by the IRS

Form 4506-T allows a third-party to obtain a transcript with your signed permission. One use of the form has been to obtain a tax return transcript when obtaining a mortgage. There have been reports that some individuals who completed this … Continue reading

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Over 1,100 Returns Filed from Two Addresses Lead to Two Heading to ClubFed

Two separate cases out of Broward County, Florida highlight that if you submit lots of tax returns from the same address even the IRS will get suspicious. A former band director and another Floridian will be heading to ClubFed in … Continue reading

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IRS to Tax Professionals: Rules for Thee but Not for Us

Today I received an alert from the IRS that a new version of Publication 4557 is available. (At this point, only the web version of the publication is available.) Interestingly, the IRS notes the following: To safeguard taxpayer information, you … Continue reading

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IRS Removes Social Security Number from Some Notices But…

The IRS has begun removing social security numbers from some IRS notices in the header (leaving just the last four digits, such as xxx-xx-1234). The reason for this is the problem of identity theft. And I give kudos to the … Continue reading

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When Even IRS Employees Are Tempted to Commit Identity Theft…

…you know there’s a huge problem. Especially given that the employee should realize that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) does look at alleged criminal activities by IRS employees. Yet it happens. Take Kenneth Goheen of Austin. Mr. … Continue reading

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How to Commit Tax Fraud 101

The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR) has an article spotlighting tax return fraud. That in itself isn’t surprising given that Florida is the hotbed for this crime. What is depressing is how easy it is to commit the crime. … Continue reading

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IRS: Free Identity Protection Services After a Data Breach Isn’t Includable in Income

The IRS noted Announcement 2015-22 today, that states: [T]he IRS will not assert that an individual whose personal information may have been compromised in a data breach must include in gross income the value of the identity protection services provided … Continue reading

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Why Rob Banks, Redux

Back in 2012 I noted that gangs were looking at identity theft as the successor to bank robbery. From Los Angeles comes the news that the California Attorney General’s Office, along with the Long Beach Police and the US Postal … Continue reading

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