Getting your identity stolen is never a walk in the park. From changing passwords and determining what exactly was compromised to following up with financial institutions and resolving unauthorized activity, there’s usually quite a gauntlet of tasks for those reclaiming their identity. Millions of people also have to resolve tax returns with the IRS and a new report indicates that it takes them more than a year and a half to do so.
At the end of 2023, the IRS still had nearly a half million cases yet to be resolved. The information in the report was gathered by National Taxpayer Advocate, which releases annual statistics on taxpayer issues and is an independent arm of the organization.
The report identifies filing taxes as a common way that people discover their identity has been stolen as the return will be rejected for being a duplicate. In fiscal 2023, it took 19 months on average to resolve these issues. In addition to this group, there were also 2.5 million filers that needed to verify their identity to confirm their return wasn’t fraudulent. While these are undoubtedly easier cases to resolve, they still took an average of 46 days despite phone, in-person, and online options for resolution.
The identity issues piling up has only been exacerbated by a move that sent 600 IRS employees working on identity theft to keep up with the busy telephone lines. The report notes that while this help may have been needed to assist during the pandemic, the phone lines shouldn’t need to pull resources from other departments at this point.
For its part, the IRS acknowledges the issues raised in the report and continues to hire staff using funds from the Inflation Reduction Act. The agency is also trying to move to increase paperless processing.
Identity theft has become one of the more common ways that people are defrauded and, oftentimes, the person whose identity is stolen may not have done anything to expose their information. If you look through our government materials, you’ll see many examples of counties that implemented automated redaction solutions to protect their citizens from identity theft. Some counties needed to remove social security numbers from criminal records while others had identifying information in their land records. There are other instances where the process simply breaks down or a citizen filing documents may be unaware of their responsibility to redact.
For government agencies concerned that there may be personally identifiable information in their records or are interested in implementing day-forward processes to protect new submissions, please take a look at our automated redaction software or reach out for a demonstration.
About the Author: Chris Mack
Chris is a Marketing Manager at Extract with experience in product development, data analysis, and both traditional and digital marketing. Chris received his bachelor’s degree in English from Bucknell University and has an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. A passionate marketer, Chris strives to make complex ideas more accessible to those around him in a compelling way.