Tax season this year might come with added complications, that’s because of a rise in fraudulent tax returns. Mallory Noe-Payne reports on the connection between your money, and cyber security.
Last week, an employee of Powhatan County fell victim to an email scam, accidentally releasing more than 900 employees’ W2’s -- including social security numbers and salary information.
Gary Wallace, a tax expert with the Richmond-based accounting firm Keiter says if you’re one of those employees, you should file your federal and state taxes as soon as possible.
“If someone does file a fraudulent claim and they get their fraudulent claim in before you do, then unfortunately the refund is going to be issued to them," says Wallace.
If that happens, it’s going to take you a lot of time and effort to get the refund back in your back account. Many people don’t know it’s happened to them until they submit their forms and get a notification that they’ve already filed.
“Don’t panic, stay steady, use the resources that are out there because both the IRS and the states have now put pretty good systems in because these things are happening fairly frequently," advises Wallace.
To help combat fraud, the state has already asked about 100,000 taxpayers for additional information to confirm their identities.
For more information from the state on filing your taxes, visit here.
