Happy Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week!

Once again, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is holding a ‘Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week’ to enlighten Americans on the potential identity theft risks relating to their tax returns.

The 2016 Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week takes place between January 25th and 29th.

The stigma surrounding this week gets people talking, which leads to more Americans knowing what they need to do and what they must avoid doing while filing their taxes.

This information really matters!

• In 2014, the Internal Revenue Service captured over $15 billion in fraudulent tax return attempts. The vast majority of these were products of identity theft. 
• Over 300,000 American tax-payers had their tax return details stolen as a result of a massive security breach.
• More than 600,000 information requests were made, meaning an even greater attempt of fraud was apparent.

Identity thieves are out in full throttle — stealing mail to fabricate tax returns, synthesizing new address information for your Social Security Number, and doing everything else they can to defraud your identity.

As an American tax-payer, you have the right to possess your own identity.

Unfortunately, the bad actors found a way to beat the game, and all you can do is install a security protocol to keep them at bay.

This means educating yourself and electing security measures to ensure no doors are left unlocked. With an identity thief able to capture your soul as soon as they get their foot in the door, it really is important to know how to combat them. Step up your knowledge on tax return identity theft right now!

Be a Part of Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week!

It’s not too late to take advantage of the resources made available for the 2017 Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week.

• January 26th @ 2 pm EST, a webinar was held to advise consumers on the different ways tax identity theft can occur and how they can act if they get targeted.
• January 27th @ 11 am EST. An open discussion will be held through Twitter to advise veterans on how they can better combat tax identity theft. Learn more & join now.
•  January 28th @ 1 pm EST, a webinar will be held to advise consumers in detail on how they can act if they become tax identity theft victims. Learn more & join now.
• January 29th @ 3 pm EST, an open discussion will be held through Twitter between the FTC and the Identity Theft Resource Center regarding the types of identity theft and how they can be prevented. Learn more & join now.
• Catch up on old dialogue. You can read the 2015 Twitter discussion here to get some more insight on tax-related identity theft topics.

Of course, knowing how to stop tax-related identity theft does not stop there.

You must understand identity theft prevention as a whole because if there’s one open window or unlocked door, a fraudster will capitalize on it. To compare with Call of Duty’s Zombies, even failing to rebuild a barrier in time could make you a victim — such as in the case of not reporting your wallet contents as missing or stolen in time.

Get The IRS’s Identity Protection PIN

The District of Columbia, Florida, and Georgia are all part of the PIN Pilot Program. This program allows all the residents of these states to add a security layer for their tax returns. A tax return will only be filed for a particular taxpayer if the tax return is submitted with the appropriate PIN by establishing an IP PIN. This greatly reduces the chance of tax identity theft, as a fraudster would need to know this PIN to succeed.

Do you live in a qualifying state? Get your IP PIN now!

Good Reads on Tax Identity Theft Topics

At ElitePersonalFinance, we specialize in providing in-depth content on a multitude of identity theft-related subjects. Our goal is not to minimally educate our readers — we strive to give the full picture while attempting to explain it as sensibly as possible.

There are just too many ways a fraudster can attack you through your taxes. This is why we emphasize year-round the importance of preventing such fraud attempts. While no literature will be enough to stop an identity thief from trying, acting on what you learn might actually make all the difference.

Here are some good posts for you to read:

• Social Security Number protection – MUST READ!!!
• The IRS’s identity theft information portal, with many publications inside.
• The IRS’s list of 10 things you need to know about tax identity theft.
• How victims can get a copy of the fake tax return that was filed.