My 23 year old son filed his first income tax return a few weeks ago. He received, this week, a request from the IRS to go online or to call them to verify his identity. He went online, and they could not verify him. He called, and the phone person (in a bad accent and not a thinking person, just a phone person) asked him questions about his home and his mortgage. Example: When did you buy your home? His answer: I don’t own a home. I live with my parents and I was a baby when they built it. Phone person: Please answer the question. His answer: I don’t know. Maybe 1993 or 1994 but I don’t own the home. How much did you pay for your home? I don’t own it, I didn’t buy it. I don’t know. Phone person: Please answer the question.
Etc.
Identity theft? They now want him to go to our local IRS office with his identification, tax return printout, and W2 form.
It may not apply in this case (the person on the phone at the IRS sounds like my typical experience with overseas call centers, I wonder if the politicians have outsourced the IRS phone banks…), but there is a warning with the IRS, there are all kinds of scams with phone calls claiming to be from the IRS, and demanding information and such. If your son got a letter and then was told to go to an IRS office, that likely was legitimate. The IRS will send such requests via snail mail, they will never send it via the phone or e-mail, those are likely phishing, I have gotten about 10 of the “This is the IRS, you need to call us back or we will be taking action” phone calls in the past several months.
By “phone person” do you mean an automated voice? Have him follow up as they say. These questions are the similar to the ones that Equifax and the other credit bureaus ask when trying to verify your identity.
It does sound like a possible identity theft. I would have him try to get a credit report from one of the three credit bureaus and check on the activity, as well. If there is anything there that doesn’t belong, he should put a fraud alert on his credit, and he will have to go through the process of removing the fraudulent information on the reports. This takes time, but really must be done to restore his identity and credit rating. Good luck. My daughter has had to do this twice. A royal pain.
How did he get the original request? It should have been in the form of a letter. It is also pretty easy to google the number suggested to call back and look for similar stories. If real, there ought to be stories. That or it will be listed as a known scam.
Fwiw, it is not unusual for the tax authorities to have numbers that have been entered poorly. I had a request from California to file my return despite having my refund in hand for weeks. One reporting outfit had entered the wrong SSN and I had two files. The matter was settled within minutes but the questions remained confined to the tax return I filed.
It could be the IRS has a similar reporting the home and someone mixed up the SSN.
Back from visiting our local friendly IRS office. Take a number, no line, no waiting. Painless (surprise)! Yes, the original request was a letter. The IRS agent said that all new filers this year are being verified. I’m still going to have him pull a credit report. The online and phone verification not working, plus the easy online credit report did not work either. Of course, he probably does not have a credit report – or at least not a legit one!
Wow, so the IRS has a lot of work this year, I guess.
Good idea aboutchecking the credit report just to see if he has an interloper. With my Dd, both of her colleges were hacked- undergrad and grad- and someone opened accounts, phone bills, gas and electric in her name, at an address where she never lived. It took a police report and several letters and phone calls over a few weeks to set them straight.
Now she’s one of the Anthem victims (as are we), but so far no issues. I think one of the new skills for our kids to learn before they leave home is “How to fix your credit report when your ID is stolen.” It’s becoming almost an epidemic.
My state says 1 in 11 of our state returns are fraudulent. That number seems frightening to me. I have had several clients have to do the identity quiz for state returns. Within the last several days I received IRS newsletter they are also requiring it for some taxpayers. I thought that was sort of late to make CPAs aware…haven’t had any clients receive that this year…yet.
This year someone was “kind” enough to file both a state and federal return on H and my behalf. Ugh. I think I have it all sorted out - this year I have to file paper returns (usually do anyway) with form 14039 (Identity Theft Affadavit) attached. That form requires a photocopy of a drivers license or passport to be attached.
I found out about the fraudulent returns when I received a state refund check in the mail despite having not filed yet.
When I was sorting this out with a state revenue agent (CT), she said that on that particular day she had spent all day dealing with cases such as mine. Between my case, and her comments, and news stories I’ve seen, it seems like this is a big issue this year.
I’m surprised that OP had to answer the questions cold. When I was presented with credit-bureau questions (they referred to these as “out of wallet” questions) they always gave me 4 choices, ie, choose a, b, c, or d.
^^^I’ve had those questions when proving my identity on the phone. It’s interesting – there’s no way any bad guy would know the answers to all the questions they ask.
^^ get an account on their www.eftps.gov site and make all payments electronically. We also file our taxes using turbotax, so no paper forms or checks.
I am suspicious it is a clever government plan to avoid paying tax refunds by setting up an inconvenient and difficult additional process. We were due a small state refund, and filed early. Instead of refund, letter arrives instructing to go to website, use a code found in the letter, enter exact refund amount (have to go find copy of return) and SS number to set up an account, and then answer 3 of 4 fairly ambiguous questions correctly. Spouse has to to do the same (different questions), different letter and code. How many average folks can really handle that? I bet if the refund is small they will not even try.
If I filed with the same home address I have been using, attached W-2 info and my phone number, they can just call if suspicious. Jeez.
This. My son, a first-time filer, totally miscalculated his tax liability for the year and ended up owing the IRS a substantial amount of money. They had absolutely no qualms whatsoever about processing his electronic payment, and didn’t say a word about his “first-time filer” status!
If there was ANY amount of withholding a fraudster could get a refund. So saying that you try to plan to owe a small amount is likely meaningless in preventing fraud. The fraudster can include any number of fake items generating a refund from your withholding: itemized deductions, Schedule C loss, Schedule D capital losses up to $3k, Schedule E rental loss, Schedule E partnership or S Corp loss, Schedule F loss, etc, Form 1116 FTC, Form 2441 credit, AOTC.