IRS Data Breach Raises Questions About Taxpayer Security

TWL_2015_may_blog10Even the IRS is not immune from hackers. Earlier this week, the tax authority confirmed that identify thieves used social security numbers stolen elsewhere to access prior-year tax records for approximately 104,000 U.S. households. A new article in the Wall Street Journal helps shed some light on the burning questions concerned tax payers have raised. One of those questions is how exactly do you know if your prior-year tax returns were among those accessed by the thieves. According to WSJ, the IRS will mail written notification to all impacted households. The IRS has also temporarily deactivated their Get Transcript online service, which the hackers used to obtain the returns. Taxpayers who need these records can still obtain copies of previous year tax returns via snail mail.

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Image Source: Don Hankins