<p>Somebody filed a fraudulent tax return using D’s SSN before she attempted to e-file. Consequently, she had to file a paper return with back-up information proving her identity. She is still waiting for her tax refund. The IRS site says that her information has been received and is still processing. Has anybody been through this and have any idea how long this is going to take? Stinks that someone else filed fraudulently and probably received a refund quickly, and her legitimate return is taking this long.</p>
<p>I heard a news story on these fraudulent returns and remember it saying it might take up to 14 months to actually receive your refund if this happened to you! </p>
<p>It was suggested that one reduce the amount you have withheld during each pay period to eliminate any refund at tax time. When there’s no refund you’re waiting on, you can’t be hurt by the actions of some crook making off with your money. Also mentioned was
whenever you get a refund, it means you’ve made an interest-free loan to the IRS during the year. That’s never a good idea. So you need to protect yourself, not make those loans to the IRS and thereby eliminate the difficult aftereffects of being subject to this particular type of identity theft that the IRS can’t seem to keep under control.</p>
<p>If you don’t know what your income for the year is until very late in the year, it’s a lot safer to overwithhold than risk penalties. Savings accounts are paying next to nothing anyways.</p>
<p>I was just quoting from a piece I heard on the radio. The above were not my words. I believe the concern with overpaying is the identity fraud that so many people like the OP daughter are having to deal with.</p>
<p>I also prefer to over-withhold than risk paying penalties. Every year, we have the govt keep our refund & apply it toward next estimated taxes anyway. Our interest is pretty insignificant, unfortunately.</p>
<p>BCEagles, we aren’t talking about incomes where there is likely to be a penalty . As long as you had as much withheld as you owed last year, you won’t (under most circumstances) owe a penalty. We are talking about a kid who probably owes little tax at all.</p>
<p>D had gotten some bad advice filling out the forms at work and had too much withheld. This has been corrected and she shouldn’t get as much of a refund next year. The amount is not a lot, but it is a lot for a student to have to wait 14 months for. That estimate surprised me. I knew it would take longer, but didn’t think it would take that long.</p>
<p>If my kiddo needed money & it was within my power to help, I’d give no-strings advance & do the waiting instead of having my kiddo wait. Just another thought.</p>
<p>A friend had the same thing happen to her in her 2010 Tax return. She is still waiting for the tax refund and answers from the IRS. It seems to me that our government is not doing a good job in this regard. The sad part is there really is no one to turn to for help.</p>
<p>You might take a look at this thread. It looks like a growing problem and that the IRS is severly backlogged with these kinds of cases. You might consider asking your Congressman to talk to the IRS on your behalf.</p>
<p>I see from the linked page that I might face difficulties with a mortgage re-fi. Good to be prepared for that, as we were planning to apply for one.</p>