The Expansion of Business Identity Theft

          The plague of business identity theft has been a growing problem for many years. While the IRS has taken steps to keep fraudulent Business Returns from being processed, criminals are always adapting their methods.

          The filters put in place last year flagged over 20,000 returns that had suspicious activity. This kept over $2.2 Billion in “refunds” from being paid out. Sadly, this is still not enough. It seems that the new guidelines are not catching everything. During the same period last year, about $200 Million was paid out by the IRS in Business Tax Refunds using Employer Identification Numbers (EIN) that should not have been processed. Some funds are even being accidentally released when the accounts have been locked.

          The IRS does its best, but it cannot be relied on for everything. As Taxpayers and Business Owners, we must do our part in protecting ourselves. All businesses must protect their EIN as best they can. It can be used to start credit and banking accounts, or goods illegally. All of this will be done while leaving your company with the bill in the eyes of the IRS. Learn from others and establish good practices now (like checking your credit report yearly), to prevent problems for your business later.

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