The IRS’ Security Summit, which is a partnership among the Internal Revenue Service, state tax agencies and the private-sector tax industry, works to combat identity thieves. According to the IRS Director of Compliance Services, tax-related identity theft has evolved into a major enterprise of well-funded, technically sophisticated national and international criminals.
These thieves aspire to steal name, addresses and Social Security Numbers from businesses and use that information to file fraudulent tax refunds to claim IRS refunds. The Security Summit has identified the following actions to protect against identity fraud:
- Tax product providers agreed to strengthen password protocols.
- State agencies began asking for taxpayers’ driver’s license numbers as another way for people to prove their identities.
- The IRS limited the number of tax refunds going to financial accounts or addresses.
- The IRS redacted personal information from tax transcripts.
The Security Summit has created campaigns to educate taxpayers and tax preparers about what they can do to help stop identity theft.
- Taxes. Security. Together
The goal of this campaign is to heighten awareness among taxpayers about the security measures they should take. - Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself
This campaign urges tax professionals to better protect client information from data thefts. - National Tax Security Awareness Week
This annual event happens in December through which attention is focused on necessary security steps and increased awareness of scams before the start of the tax filing season.
The Security Summit reported the following results of their efforts:
- Between 2015 and 2019, the number of taxpayers reporting they were identity theft victims fell 80 percent.
- The number of confirmed identity theft returns stopped by the IRS declined by 68 percent.
- The IRS protected a combined $26 billion in fraudulent refunds by stopping the confirmed identity theft returns.
- Financial industry partners recovered $1.7 billion in fraudulent refunds.
The Security Summit continues its work to enhance security protocol for all taxpayers.
