Yesterday, President Obama asked for a 72% increase in budgeting for the IRS to increase “cyber-security” for the agency. According to the White House, the IRS could take “”especially aggressive steps to fight identity theft and Stolen Identity Refund fraud” with the additional funding requested.
In May, the IRS announced that hackers had accessed the information of more than 100,000 US taxpayers, and had used that information to file more than $39 Million in fake tax returns. They take the refunds and disappear, using the information hacked from the IRS to create false identities, and then cash refund checks.
Worse, the actual taxpayer who has been “cloned” is unable to file the real tax return as a return is already “on file” with the IRS, and the taxpayer must take massive action to correct the IRS, and update their own returns. In cases where a refund is due the taxpayer, the IRS has been reluctant to send a check noting that a “continuing investigation” must be completed prior to the issuance of a new refund.
If you are encountering issues with the IRS, or have been contacted for an audit we would like to help. We invite you to call 866-631-3470 for a free consultation. You should never attempt to deal with the IRS on your own, and the protections of the “attorney-client privilege” as well as our experience and expertise ensure the best possible outcome in your case.