Thread: AP NewsBreak: Taxpayer identity theft is soaring

AP NewsBreak: Taxpayer identity theft is soaring

By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press
Posted: 06/01/2011 11:26:17 AM MDT

WASHINGTON—The IRS is grappling with soaring taxpayer identity theft.
Unsuspecting victims are filing for their refunds, and learning the money had been paid to someone using the same name and Social Security number.

The Associated Press has obtained a Government Accountability Office report showing there were more than 248,000 identity theft incidents in 2010. In 2008, the number was 51,700.

After learning they have been victimized, taxpayers must then wait for the IRS to determine which filing was legitimate. However, once fraud is discovered, the agency marks the account and carefully screens future submissions.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_18183077

PoliticalNews.me
May 30,2011 -

Congressional panel probes soaring problem of ID thieves stealing taxpayer refunds online

May 25, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C.- In 2009 Terry McClung Jr. and his wife Stephanie tragically lost their five-month-old daughter Kaitlyn to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

When the Finksburg, Maryland couple filed their federal tax return nine months later, they were shocked that the IRS rejected it because Kaitlyn’s Social Security number had just been used by someone else on a different return. The McClungs then found several others in an online support group for families of SIDS who similarly were victimized by ID thieves claiming other people’s tax refunds.

To the McClung’s knowledge no one in their case has been caught or prosecuted. Now they are set to testify today before a congressional panel investigating tax fraud by ID thieves. They’ll be joined by other victims from New York and Florida, and by a panel of authorities from the IRS and Government Accountability Office.

The hearing – at 2:00 p.m. in room 215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building - is expected to shine a spotlight on what authorities likely will say is a wide-ranging problem involving ID theft. According to published accounts, tax fraudsters submitted claims totaling $14 billion over the last five years. The IRS says it stops a lot of fraudulent refund claims. But, experts say, tax fraud involving ID theft is soaring across the U.S. as thieves gain more and more access to online information.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson called for today’s hearing after learning of several victims in Florida, who, like the McClungs, had their tax returns tied up because someone filed a fraudulent claim. Their cases came to light through published accounts by WFLA-TV in Tampa and the Sun-Sentinel newspaper in Fort Lauderdale.

Nelson, who is chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility, said he’s hoping to uncover patterns in ID-theft tax fraud cases with an eye toward filing legislation that will allow authorities to better work together in detecting and prosecuting these kinds of crimes. “We simply cannot tolerate ID thieves who rob taxpayers,â€