Each year thieves try to steal billions in federal withholdings by stealing your identity. As the IRS focuses more attention on this quickly growing problem, now is the time of year to be extra vigilant.
Early tax filing season is the worst time
Your federal tax account at the IRS has plenty of money in it from all the taxes withheld from your paycheck during the course of the year. Until you file your tax return, the IRS does not know whether you need to pay more in or they need to refund you the excess amounts withheld.
Thieves know this too, and will try to file a fraudulent tax return before you have time to submit your own. By doing this, they can steal some of your withholdings and be long gone by the time you file your own tax return. So what can you do?
The IRS is becoming a better spotter
If the IRS suspects something is wrong with your filed tax return they will send you a notice. If this happens to you:
Having your identity stolen is one thing. Having your tax withholding stolen and then needing to unravel this problem within the IRS is a major hassle. Try to stay vigilant and know that there are steps to help protect your tax records. Is there good news in all this? If the IRS pays out a refund to someone stealing your identity, they are on the hook for this loss, not you.
Out of an abundance of caution we have closed our office to any in-person meetings. We continue to work and ask our clients to upload their documents to us and chat over the phone as needed. We are also accepting documents by drop off or snail mail. Of course, you can always call us 425-640-8660
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