What does it take for the Internal Revenue Service to realize that maybe, just maybe, it picked the wrong company to award a $7.25 million fraud-prevention contract? It wasn’t enough that Equifax’s network was so poorly prepared for a hack that a months-long cyber attack compromised the sensitive information of more than 140 million Americans. And then that same company may have served up malware to consumers visiting its publicly available website. Whatever the reason, the IRS has finally begun to realize Equifax might just be absolutely terrible at its job. [More]
IRS
IRS Awards $7.25M Fraud-Prevention Contract To Equifax Despite Failure To Secure Consumers’ Data
By 10.4.17
This week, various members of Congress are verbally flogging Equifax over the recently revealed data breach that compromised the personal information of around 145 million people. Meanwhile, the folks down the road at the Internal Revenue Service apparently aren’t concerned about incompetence, awarding Equifax a multimillion-dollar contract for — sigh — fraud-prevention services. [More]
IRS Warns Of Increase In W-2 Theft Scams
By 8.22.17
Tax time might still be months away, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be on the lookout for possible scams: The Internal Revenue Service and FBI are warning consumers and businesses about an email scam targeting employee W-2 forms after seeing a 150% increase in incidents last year. [More]
Good News From The IRS: Tax Refund Identity Theft Is Way Down This Year
By 7.26.17
This tax season, you may remember Consumerist reminding you to file as early as possible, especially if you were expecting a refund or receiving certain tax credits aimed at lower-income Americans. New anti-fraud measures taken by the Internal Revenue Service and better awareness of the problem have apparently helped: The IRS reports that tax refund fraud has decreased. [More]
Man Declared Dead By Government For 29 Years, Kept Paying Taxes Anyway
By 5.11.17
Nearly 30 years ago, the Social Security Administration decided that a 4-year-old Minnesota boy was dead. He was not. SSA employees chalked it up to a “glitch” and promised to correct the error. They did not. And even as that boy grew up and began paying taxes, the federal government still considered him deceased, at least until his local TV station and a U.S. Senator got involved. [More]
People Paying Back Student Loans Could Also Be Hurt By Outage Of FAFSA Tool
By 5.3.17
A Department of Education decision take down an online tool that helped student loan applicants file for aid isn’t just making things difficult on students. It’s also a problem for those who are repaying their student loans through a federal payment plan. [More]
Don’t Have Time To Finish Your Tax Return? Here’s How To File An Extension
By 4.18.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Thanks to the holidays, Americans got a few extra days this year to file their tax returns. But even with the later deadline, you might still be lacking free time to finish your return. In that case, you should request an extension for filing (which does not extend the deadline for paying your taxes). [More]
Kingpin Of IRS Scam That Made $225K/Day Arrested In India
By 4.10.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Police in India say they’ve arrested the suspected kingpin behind a scammy call center operation that raked in $225,000 per day by pretending they were agents for the Internal Revenue Service. [More]
FAFSA Tool Vulnerability May Have Exposed 100K Individuals’ Personal Info
By 4.7.17
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is a bit cumbersome, so the Department of Education tried to ease that burden by creating a tool that automatically filled in an applicant’s previous year’s tax information. That tool was suddenly taken offline last month over concerns about data security, and now we have some idea of how many applicants may have had their information exposed. [More]
IRS Will Begin Working With Private Debt Collectors This Month
By 4.4.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
The Internal Revenue Service has released additional details about its new program that turns certain delinquent accounts over to private debt collectors, giving us some idea of when these collection calls will begin, and how many accounts will be affected.
[More]
The IRS Is Now Using Private Debt Collectors; Here’s What You Need To Know
By 4.3.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
After years of warning taxpayers that the IRS will never cold call you to collect a tax debt, things are about to change as the IRS begins handing over some of its debt-collection work to private firms who probably will call you. [More]
Why Isn’t It Easier To File Your Tax Return For Free? Thank TurboTax, H&R Block
By 3.20.17
For most people, the IRS now has all the information it needs to estimate how much you owe in taxes, or how much of a refund you are due. So why is the burden on you to tell the federal government this same information? It may have something to do with the millions of dollars that H&R Block, Intuit (maker of TurboTax), and others have spent lobbying to maintain their exclusive arrangement with the IRS. [More]
If You Use A Tax Preparer, Make Sure They Don’t Get Taken In By ‘Last-Minute Email’ Scam
By 3.20.17
Taxes can be complicated, and you may have last-minute tweaks to make as you pull together paperwork. Scammers are now taking advantage of this fact, posing as taxpayers to siphon away their annual refunds. [More]
IRS Waiting On 1 Million Taxpayers To Claim Almost $1B In Refunds From 2013
By 3.1.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
There is free money to be had, but you don’t have much time: Just like last year, the Internal Revenue Service says about one million taxpayers have yet to collect nearly a billion dollars in federal refunds from the 2013 tax year. [More]
Lawsuit: Woman Harassed After ‘Howard Stern Show’ Airs Her Phone Call With IRS Agent
By 2.14.17
You may remember the story of the Massachusetts woman who thought she was just talking to an Internal Revenue Service agent on the phone, when really, their private call — including her personal information — was being broadcast to listeners of Howard Stern’s radio show. She’s now suing both the IRS and the show. [More]
Taxpayers Have A Bill Of Rights Too
By 2.8.17
It’s tax season, which means you should be preparing your return or getting ready to do so, if only so an identity thief doesn’t get there first and file a fake return to swipe your refund. What you should remember as you file and if you encounter any problems with the IRS is that taxpayers have specific rights that apply to everyone. [More]
Late Tax Refunds Could Mean Fewer People Watching Super Bowl On New TVs
By 2.3.17
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced that millions of tax refunds may be delayed this year as the agency tries to combat fraud. Some experts say this delay could have an unintended consequence: fewer new TVs tuned in to this Sunday’s Super Bowl. [More]
Tax Season Is Now Open: Here’s Why You Should File ASAP
By 1.24.17
As of today, tax season is officially open! While you might want to file as early as you can if you’re expecting a refund, there’s also a very good reason why you should file as soon as you have your documents in order: to block overseas identity thieves from doing it first. [More]
