IRS and Identity Theft
On Saturday, February 28, 2015, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled: "Invasion of the Tax Snatchers".
The following items are cited from the above referenced article:
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) the IRS lost an estimated $5.8 billion to fraudulent refund claims in 2013.
In 2013 there were almost 2 million suspected tax identity theft incidents, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
For potential victims of identity theft from a data breach or a stolen purse, they can notify the IRS by filing IRS Form 14039, Identity Theft Affidavit.
Finally, "the IRS has nad its budget cut by $1.2 billion over the past five years".
These IRS budget cuts have caused longer processing times for all IRS work processes including identity theft cases.