From 2011 to 2014, the IRS paid out a whopping $5.eight billion in fraudulent refunds, that’s, refunds made to people who weren’t entitled to the cash. Though it prevented about $24 billion from going out to related fraudsters, the actual fact is, in line with this Forbes report, that there’s actually no approach to precisely gauge how a lot the IRS pays out in identification theft refunds. This isn’t solely an issue for the IRS but in addition for you, the taxpayer, as a result of in case your tax data falls into the mistaken palms, refunds which are lawfully yours could also be going into another person’s account. That is solely one of many some ways during which IRS identification theft might spell catastrophe for you.As Jessica Wealthy, director of FTC’s Client Safety Bureau describes it, there was an ‘explosion of complaints’ about identification theft over the previous couple of years and this makes it crucial for you, the taxpayer, to know what’s identification theft and the right way to safeguard towards it. The IRS is making its personal efforts to cut back this menace and the latest initiatives stand testomony to this truth.

Steps taken for identification theft preventionPrevention is unquestionably higher than treatment within the case of IRS identification theft as a result of monitoring mistaken funds, tracing the fraudsters, and recovering the funds is just about not possible. With a view to bettering determine theft prevention, over 20 information parts that may seem alongside tax returns are being highlighted by the IRS Summit. A take a look at these parts signifies can let you know if there may be something suspicious concerning the return. Based mostly on suggestions, the IRS is incorporating course of adjustments to present particular, additional care to those parts in order that fraudulent returns could be recognized earlier than refunds are authorized and processed.The Summit has additionally impressed the software program business to provide you with options that may enhance validation procedures on tax associated processes together with implementing higher identification verification techniques.Focus can also be being invested in bettering identification verification processes for these people who use a tax submitting software program to file their returns. These will embody the incorporation of safety questions within the software program and system recognition at log-on to alert if a brand new, unfamiliar system is getting used to entry the software program. These are safety procedures which are extensively utilized in banking and different monetary sectors and now these are being carried out to the tax area to spice up safety to taxpayers and stop IRS identification theft.

In response to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, these new safety features will come into power for the 2016 tax season, which means that taxpayers will take pleasure in extra layers of identification theft safety this yr. The brand new options are the results of the collaborative effort between IRS, main software program corporations and tax preparation consultants, in addition to, state tax directors and monetary/ tax product makers. The Safety Summit (because the collaboration is understood) contributors have additionally listed out many different areas of concern in taxation that might be appeared into within the coming months. These might be addressed on an ongoing foundation and the collaborative efforts and assets of the contributors might be leveraged to provide you with efficient options.