 internal revenue service IRS tax news don't be an easy mark what every tax pro should know about identity theft easy mark I'm a man not a mark dang it easier otherwise dang government I mean at least they used to see me as a number no I'm not even a number I'm just I'm just a mark and not even a like a specific mark like a checkmark or something I'm just some random mark not a not a number or of specific mark I mean it makes you feel kind of like some poor sap looking to get home with his hard-earned money walking through a blind alley with two gangs on each side looking to rob the poor mark the bigger gang knowing locally as simply the IRS staring down the smaller identity theft gang saying hey that's my mark dang it however we don't really care if you rob our mark as long as you report your robbing income to us and we get our quote fair share in quote that way we do accept tax payments and cash now in order to accommodate organizations like yours but first an attempt at a joke president Biden these days acts like a chicken with its head cut off look at that boy running all around like a chicken with his head cut wait a minute but like five years ago not that he doesn't have a headmind you he just acts like a chicken that had its head cut off but like the head was cut off a long time ago so the chicken it's not very active at this point I'm a busy guy I live it haven't been headless you know for an extended period of time very active lifestyle I mean for example if you rolled out a chicken who had its head cut off five years ago out in front of a teleprompter you chickened out didn't you it would look pretty much the same as when we roll president Biden out in front of a teleprompter they aren't got their juicy little vampire kids looks the same to me the only difference being the chicken wouldn't have a head what's the matter loser did a horse bite your head off and now you're crying because you don't have a head and I'm sure the headless chicken would get higher television ratings smell ratings due to the chicken's higher approval ratings I mean I don't I don't know about you but I know I'd sure rather take advice from the headless chicken I'd rather take an order from Bill Clinton hear that guy's snooty high tone voice again sir IRS tax tip 2022-135 September 1st 2022 it can be a challenge to stay ahead of identity thieves these criminals are tech and tax savvy and they like to target tax pros it's a catchy phrase right there so we've seen possibly an increase in the targeting of tax professionals by identity thieves possibly in part due to changes in the laws some of those changes increasing things like refundable tax credits for example like the child tax credit earned income tax credits which may make it more valuable for identity thieves to try to use those stolen identities to file fraudulent tax returns as well as other kind of programs that are designed in order to basically help during problematic times but can also be a source for identity thieves to try to take advantage of therefore the tax professionals have to be more on alert than even prior years these days of course also we have changes in technology that are always happening as we go forward so that too means we got to kind of try to be ahead of things so they can either trick or hack their way into tax professionals computer systems to access client data so they're gonna try to get the data because remember if you think of normal kind of identity theft tactics like phishing emails we often see those and we're saying hey those are not that sophisticated looking so you might not you might have a false sense of security thinking that that would be the the primary way that they're gonna target people but that's usually kind of like a shotgun method when they're using those emails that are going out to everybody and that might even be a filtering method to have very unsophisticated kind of emails so that the people that actually call them are more likely to go through the whole scam which might include something like getting access to something through a through like a gift card or something like that right so so if they're gonna target their their their vision towards someone specific then that would mean that they're gonna target tax pros possibly because now they might be able to get a lot more data with one shot which means they're not going to use the same simplistic tactics they might have multiple emails that they're gonna give and the phishing emails could be a lot more specific and therefore harder to detect so even when tax pros think they have client data stored securely lack of strong authentication can make this information vulnerable thieves use stolen data file to file fraudulent tax returns which is more difficult for the IRS to detect because the fraudulent returns use real financial information so other data thieves sell the basic tax preparer or taxpayer information on the web so other fraudsters can try filing fraudulent tax returns luckily there are some easy things tax pros can do to protect their clients you can create a security plan under federal law pay tax return preparers must have a data security plan this plan protects businesses and client information while also providing a blueprint for action in the event of a security breach for many tax pros knowing where to start when developing in a written security plan presents challenges there are resources available to assist like IRS publication 4557 safeguarding taxpayer data there's a link to that here you can encourage clients to apply for an identity protection pin so this is something that used to be used as a check after someone's identity had been stolen meaning if someone did file a fraudulent tax return you have to go through the process of saying hey that return was fraudulent and then the IRS is going to try to stop them from filing another fraudulent return which is difficult because they already have all your data like your social security number so they could give you another pin which can act like a second identification number which will not save you from other things they might be able to do with your private data but it could save you and protect you from what might be their primary target these days because many of the these kind of plans that are that are giving money out and whatnot and increased credits are through the tax code so another pin which identifies you differently would be something that can give you that second layer of security and it's something that you can do pre-appro at preactively or beforehand before someone steals your identity and files a fraudulent tax return. The IRS now offers IPPINs to all taxpayers who can verify their identities online on the phone with an IRS employee after filing a form 15227 or in person. The IPPIN is a six digit number that is known only to the taxpayer and the IRS it helps prevent an identity theft from filing a fraudulent return in the taxpayers name. Tax professionals cannot obtain an IPPIN for their clients so you can't do it for them they got to do it themselves because the whole point is it's kind of like a second social security number at least with regards to identification for the IRS. Clients must verify their identities to the IRS the easiest way is at the get an IPPIN tool there's a link to that here it's on irs.gov irs.gov obviously so avoid spearfishing scams so here we go the dang people are trying to think we're a fish and skewer us so we got to avoid that one of the most successful tactics identity thieves use against tax professionals is the spearfishing scam so watch out when you go swimming in the ocean. Thieves take time to craft personalized emails to entice tax professionals to open a link embedded in the email or open an attachment. Now this is the most common kind of thing that we probably think of as some kind of fishing email tactic and again the fishing emails that we see are probably often very unsophisticated but if they target you they're gonna act like a client and they might then target you with multiple emails they can be much more looking like a normal email from a client because now they're trying to get one if they get access to one firms stuff then they get a lot more it's a lot more information they get for one hit right so they're gonna put they might be willing to put a lot more time into it in some cases unfortunately so tax pros have been especially vulnerable to spearfishing scams from thieves posing as potential clients of course so we're in an environment where we're doing stuff all online now we're trying to pick up clients and people act like a client they can be quite convincing especially in an environment where you're not interviewing them you know personally so these might carry an email conversation with their target for several days before sending the email containing a link or attachment the link or attachment may secretly download software into the tax pros computer that will give these remote access to the tax pros system those jerks how could they do that to the best the people just trying to save the world the tax professionals by doing taxes it's just horrible know the telltale science of identity theft many tax professionals to report data theft to the IRS also say that they wear on we're unaware of the science that a theft had occurred there are many signs of tax pros should watch out for these include multiple clients suddenly receiving IRS letters requesting confirmation that they filed a tax return deemed suspicious so if the IRS is saying hey we got suspicious stuff and you're like I didn't file how would that be well maybe someone's filing stuff to them you're right the tax professional may also see e file acknowledgments for a far more tax returns than they filed so if you get acknowledgments that for tax returns that you didn't file well that's a big sign a computer hacking scenarios computers cursors may move and that this one always kind of makes me laugh because it seems like that would be quite obvious right if your cursors moving and and you're not moving it like and it's like it's not like the table shook or anything like if it's filling out a tax return on its own then that's not doesn't seem good and you should probably do something so help client protect themselves whether working from home or traveling with the continuation of work from home policies for many organizations taxpayers are doing more and more electronically tax pros can help their clients protect themselves by sharing information on computer security so those cyber smart tactics protect not only tax professionals but their clients also so if you're working remotely especially looking into an office you might have a VPN or something like that because now you have more nodes that people can kind of get access to and then get into your major network and and steal stuff like they do so any case whatever more information at the link below at the identity theft central there's a link to that and a link to all the other stuff I said there was a link to and there'll be a link to this in the description