Earlier this week it was announced that thieves may have accessed approximately 220,000 more tax return accounts through the IRS on top of the 114,000 that were reported this past May. The thieves were able to use previously obtained information in order to use the “Get Transcript” program through the IRS website.
The IRS immediately shut down the Get Transcript program and released this statement back in May of 2015.
New IRS Update
This week with the updated news the IRS has released an updated statement on August 17th, 2015.
In this statement the IRS informs taxpayers that those whose accounts may have been accessed will receive letters in the coming days to inform them of the possible data breach.
For our clients, if you do receive one of these letters from the IRS please let your advisor know.
An excerpt from the IRS statement released this week:
“The IRS believes some of this information may have been gathered for potentially filing fraudulent tax returns during the upcoming 2016 filing season so anyone receiving a letter should take steps to protect themselves by taking advantage of the free credit monitoring and IP PIN which can be used to verify the authenticity of next year’s tax return.”
Your advisor will discuss with you the best course of action to take in regards to the letter from the IRS, but you can also refer to the following article “What to do if You’re a Victim of the IRS Refund Hack.”
