Tips to stay ahead of fraud during tax filing season

With the 2022 tax filing season officially open as of January 23, it’s an opportune time to take some basic security measures to avoid becoming a victim of tax identity fraud.

Tax ID fraud is one of many types of general tax scams, which keeps government enforcement agencies busy. Late last year, the IRS Criminal Investigation division announced it identified $5.7 billion in tax fraud for fiscal year 2022, versus $2.3 billion from two years earlier.

cation for required permits and orders. According to NWCAA, current Petrogas management has worked diligently and cooperatively with the agency to resolve the matter.

“The current leadership operating the Petrogas facility has been very open and forthcoming,” Buford said in the release.

“In what was a difficult series of conversations for them, I noted their determination to understand rather than defend past mistakes to keep them from happening again. That’s a good indicator of commitment to sustained positive change.”

Tax ID fraud occurs when a perpetrator uses the Social Security number (SSN) and other personally identifiable information (PII) of an individual to file a fraudulent tax return and claim a refund. Other PII could include key items such as W-2 tax forms, addresses and date of birth. The criminals will attempt to file a refund early in the filing season before the real taxpayer files their own return.

What criminals are doing Criminals resort to different methods to illegally obtain PII and perpetrate tax fraud. Once they obtain PII, it’s off to the races.

(See Fraud, page 16)