What To Do When Your Identity Gets Stolen

During Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week the Federal Trade Commission wants you to know what to do if you suspect that you are a victim of tax identity theft or if you think your social security number has been stolen. Follow these steps if you suspect you are a victim of identity theft or you get a letter from the IRS denying your refund or suggesting that you failed to report income from an unknown employer.

Respond to all mail from the IRS immediately. Call the IRS Identity Theft Protection Specialized Unit at 1-800-908-4490. Report the fraud and ask for the IRS ID Theft Affidavit Form 14039. If you are a tax identity theft victim, the IRS may give you a personal PIN number to verify your identity and protect your file going forward. 

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) has a page on identity theft to help you take steps towards reporting theft and preventing fraud. This year the DOR has implemented a new identity verification tool to check some taxpayers' identity before they can receive a state tax refund. Their identity verification program checks a taxpayer's identity by asking them to take an online quiz or send in documents to prove their identity.

Original photo by by Orion200 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons