what is tax identity theft

Tax identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information, including your Social Security number, to file a tax return claiming a fraudulent refund or to commit tax fraud. Tax identity theft is particularly pernicious because the legitimate taxpayer may have no way of knowing that fraud has been committed. Tax identity theft can affect your taxes if your Social Security number is stolen, and the thief files a tax return using your information before you do. Tax identity theft can also occur when someone uses your Social Security number to get a job and report the income under your identity. Tax identity theft can be detected when you try to file your tax return and the IRS rejects it as a duplicate filing. To protect yourself from tax identity theft, you can take steps to protect your personal information, such as keeping your tax records and Social Security card in a safe place, shredding your tax records when you decide to get rid of them, and protecting your information from scammers online and on your phone. If you suspect that you are a victim of tax identity theft, you can report it to the IRS and the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov.