WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service, state tax administrators and the
private-sector tax industry today announced a new campaign aimed at encouraging
more people to protect their personal and financial data online and at home.
The “Taxes. Security. Together.” campaign is designed to raise public awareness
that even routine actions on the Internet and their personal devices can affect
the safety of their financial and tax data. The education campaign will
complement the expanded series of protections the IRS, states and tax industry
are putting in place for the start of the 2016 filing season to address
tax-related identity theft. (See
IR-2015-117 and
Fact
Sheet 2015-23.)
“Identity thieves are evolving, and so must we. Everyone has a part to
play,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. "The IRS, the states and the
tax industry are putting in place even tougher safeguards for 2016. But, we
need the public’s help. We need people to join with us and take an active role
in protecting their personal and financial data from thieves.”
The campaign -- which will continue through the April tax deadline -- was
announced today at an event hosted by the Federation of Tax Administrators,
comprised of state revenue departments across the nation. The effort is part of
the Security Summit, a collaborative effort started in March between the
states, the IRS and the tax industry.
The joint consumer campaign includes several components, including YouTube
videos, consumer-friendly Tax Tips each week and local events across the
country. Several IRS publications have been added or updated to help taxpayers
and tax professionals. The information will also be shared across IRS.gov,
state web sites and platforms used by the tax software community and others in
the tax community.
"The governments and industry are taking new steps to protect
taxpayers. To build on this even further, we are joining forces to share
important information across our websites - whether it's at the state level, in
the tax industry or at the IRS. This is an unprecedented collaborative effort
for tax administration," said David Sullivan, Tax Administrator for the
Rhode Island Division of Taxation and immediate past president of the
Federation of Tax Administrators.
It is clear that increasingly sophisticated identity thieves have access to
excessive amounts of personal and financial data, which they buy and sell on
the black market, and use this data to file fraudulent tax returns using
victims’ names and Social Security numbers. While the IRS, states and tax
industry are taking new steps to toughen their systems to protect taxpayers,
there are also things people can do as well.
"People handle some of their most sensitive personal and financial
information when they prepare their taxes on their home computer. But when they
sit down, we want to help make sure they are preparing their taxes on a device
that is secure. Tax time is two months away, but it's not too early for people
to make sure they are doing the right things to protect themselves," said
Bernie McKay, an executive vice president at Intuit, one of more than 20
members of the tax industry participating in the Summit process.
The IRS, states and tax industry are urging the public to take active steps
to protect themselves. The partners are encouraging people to:
- Use security software to
protect computers. This includes a firewall and anti-virus protection. If
tax returns or sensitive data are stored on the computers, encrypt the
files. Use strong passwords.
- Beware of phishing
emails and phone scams. A common way for identity thieves to steal names and
Social Security numbers, passwords, credit card numbers, bank account
information is to simply ask for it. Clever criminals pose as trusted
organizations that you recognize and send spam emails, calls or texts.
Their email may ask you to update a bank account or tax software account
and provide a link that to a fake website that is designed solely to steal
your logon information. They may call posing as the IRS threatening you
with jail or lawsuits unless you make an immediate payment. They may
provide an attachment which, if you download, will infect your machine and
enable the thief to access sensitive files or track your key strokes.
- Protect personal
information.
Do not routinely carry your Social Security number. Properly dispose of
old tax returns and other sensitive documents by shredding before
trashing. Check your credit reports and Social Security Administration
accounts at least annually to ensure no one is using your good credit or
using your SSN for employment. Oversharing on social media also gives identity
thieves even more personal details.
“These are all basic, common sense steps that you no doubt have heard many
times if you are a regular Internet user. But there are 150 million households
that file taxes, and problems still happen. Security software still gets turned
off. And there are still, on a regular basis, victims who are tricked by these
clever phishing schemes. Not only can this harm the individuals attacked, this
can have a direct impact on tax administration," Koskinen said.
The partners are asking all tax preparers and businesses to share
information with employees, clients and customers. See
www.irs.gov/taxessecuritytogether
for more information. There also is
IRS
Publication 4524, Security Awareness for Taxpayers, which provides a brief
overview of steps people can take.
In March, Koskinen convened an unprecedented meeting of IRS, state tax
officials and the tax industry to determine what additional steps could be
taken. On October 20, the Security Summit participants provided an update to
the public.
For the 2016 filing season, there will be new standards for logging onto all
tax software products such as minimum password requirements, new security
questions and standard lockout features. The software industry will provide
more than 20 additional data elements from the tax return submission to the IRS
and, in turn, to the states to help identity fraudulent returns. All parties
agreed to information sharing on a weekly basis to help quickly identify and
adjust to new and emerging tax-related fraud schemes.
The IRS also continues to work to help victims
of identity theft and pursue criminals using identity information to file
fraudulent tax returns. IRS Criminal Investigation has worked on thousands of
identity theft cases. Since 2013, nearly 2,000 identity thieves have been
convicted, with the average sentence running well over three years.
