In 2023, the Idaho State Tax Commission sent over 2,400 identity verification letters to secure nearly $30.1 million in IRS tax refunds from going to thieves who used stolen identities to file fake IRS tax refunds.

IRS Tax Refunds: Respond To Identity Verification Letters To Protect Your Tax Refunds! (Photo: Yahoo Finance)

The internal systems help us identify and root out tax fraud and avoid the IRS Tax Refunds being stolen

“Ensuring Idaho tax dollars don’t go to thieves is one of our highest priorities, but so is efficiently issuing IRS tax refunds to law-abiding taxpayers. So, we need taxpayers who get those letters to respond. We won’t issue any IRS tax refunds until we can verify your identity”, said Idaho Tax Commission Chairman Jeff McCray.

In many cases, identity theft victims don’t realize their personal information has been stolen and is being used to file fraudulent IRS tax refunds. They first hear about it when they get a verification letter from the Tax Commission.

All IRS tax refunds go through fraud detection reviews before the state issues IRS tax refunds. If taxpayers receive a letter, they should take the requested action right away. After validating their identity or confirming that they filed a return, processing of the IRS refunds will continue.

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If a taxpayer receives a verification letter but hasn’t filed an IRS tax refund, they could be a victim of identity theft

As part of its fraud detection, the Tax Commission partners with the IRS, other state tax agencies, tax professionals, software developers, and financial institutions to identify and share information about IRS tax refund fraud and identity theft.

For more information, visit tax.idaho.gov/idverify. Or call (208) 334-7660 in the Boise area or toll-free at (800) 972-7660.

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