Income taxes and identity theft is a major issue for the IRS. Therefore, protecting the identity of tax payers is, again, a top priority for the 2015 Income Tax season. As you begin to prepare your taxes, there will be visible changes to the way you file online and offline. These updated security measures will add new steps in your filing process. Justifiably, it is the best way to steer clear of fraudsters who are ready to take your money. So what can you expect? For starters, online filers can expect more security questions (i.e. “what is your birth city?”) and reactive warnings that will notify filers when their answers have been changed. Email updates will also be sent to the filers old (and new) email warning them that something has changed. If bank deposit information or home address info is changed, taxpayers will be notified. TurboTax and other tax companies will also check for the double usage of social security numbers. Of course, these measures is supported by some form of password protection. Passwords will be required to be stronger with a lowercase, uppercase, number, symbol, and so on. Systems will also kick a person out after a certain amount of repeated login failures. The IRS suggests that taxpayers file their returns as soon as January 19 as a safe guard to identity theft. People who file closer to the tax deadline (April 15) put themselves more at risk for fraud. Why? Because the taxpayer allowed the filing process to linger, which put their personal information in a vulnerable position. Lastly, having a tax refund deposited to a prepaid debit card may be a thing of the past. Reports state that last year fraudsters would gain access to a taxpayers account and change their pay-out method from direct deposit to a prepaid debit card. Don’t be surprised if you see more paper checks being issued by the IRS.
