Frankly, there are some ways that ID thieves crack the code without our help, so it’s essential that the IRS and tax preparers spot possible patterns early. “The threat from fraudsters and criminals is complex and evolving”.
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Top Tax Benefits of Home OwnershipShould Couples File Taxes Jointly or Separately? A victim won’t know of the breach until after he files his own return and the IRS discovers two tax returns filed with the same Social Security number.
The forms will come from employers, insurance companies or the government.
February marks a high-point in the tax filing season when the IRS experiences many calls to its customer service line from taxpayers with questions. Using algorithms and sophisticated, fast computers, the scammers can handle many phony returns in one state or many.
In December, Congress made permanent the extension of the Earned Income Tax Credit, widely regarded as one of the nation’s most powerful antipoverty programs because it can return up to $6,269 per qualifying family.
If you’re going to school – and you’re paying for it – you can opt for certain deductions when filing your tax return.
We are all ultimately responsible for the accuracy of our own tax returns.
And simply share information between the states when fraudulent filings are spotted. One GAO tester was told that income didn’t need to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service if it was reinvested in a mutual fund.
Several state tax offices are asking online filers for their driver’s license numbers. The rate for returns filed electronically is 0.5 percent.
To start your Free File tax return, you first need all your documents including your income statements such as Form W-2.
Alabama, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin also have the early electronic reporting deadline. Volunteers also assist taxpayers who don’t speak English.
“There are a lot of places people, especially students, can go to have professionals file their taxes for them”, Bertram said. “In this day and age of electronics, we have the great side and the evil side, and that’s the evil side”.
Taxpayers can help protect themselves by doing a little homework before picking preparers who make refund claims that may sound too good to be true. You may be on to something if your interactions with your tax preparer just don’t feel right. Recently released IRS numbers indicate that 7.9 million households paid fines averaging $210 apiece on their tax returns for 2014.
Franchot urged taxpayers who have their returns prepared by tax services to check their returns carefully and to be suspicious if a preparer deducts their fees from the taxpayer’s refund and deposits the funds directly into the preparer’s bank account, or fails to include the preparer’s taxpayer identification number on the return. You’ll need to send a copy of a police report, proof of your identity, such as a copy of your Social Security card, driver’s license or passport. So I went to the library, got the forms and did them myself. “A SEP is very easy to set up”, said Warnkin at the JL Smith Group.
“With tax fraud, the (trend) is pretty shocking”, said David Whittaker, chief information officer at Park University. Taxpayers can sometimes use the PINs to help verify their identities when they file returns online.
Always use security software with firewall and anti-virus protections. Don’t click on the links.
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Some may be attorneys or CPA’s, but anybody can be a tax preparer, so be sure you are aware of the preparer’s qualifications and trust that person with your personal information. Don’t leave it lying around.
