The subject matter of this letter: Letter 4310C seeks to warn you that you are the victim of an attempted impersonation wherein the felon has used your identity as well as your social security number (SSN).
The IRS wishes to inform you that we have processed safeguards to resolve the issue.
Your tax account has been appropriately adjusted and now reveals accurate information about your return.
The IRS have also ensured a benefit to your tax account by placing an indicator: any tax return that a felon could submit by using your SSN will henceforth be flagged as a possible instance of identity theft.
Those returns will be reviewed in order to pre-empt the filing of a return through the fraudulent use of your SSN by any other person.
Assuming that your return for the relevant tax year mentioned on your letter has already been filed, the IRS don’t need any other submission from you. However, if the relevant tax return has not yet been filed, please mail a paper return to the Internal Revenue Service Submission Processing Campus that is relevant to your residential state.
The letter communicates the instructions you must fulfill.
Meanwhile, continue with your normal filing of federal tax returns. You can expect to hear from the IRS if the processing of those returns proves problematic. Please note that you will not have to communicate with the IRS or provide any personal information via e-mail.
If you adhere to the instructions in the IRS’s Publication 5027, Identity Theft Information for Taxpayers (PDF), you can help protect yourself in the event of any unusual or suspicious activity on your financial accounts.
You will also benefit from verifying your identity through the use of a unique 6-digit number, an Identity Protection Personal Identification Number (IP PIN), in your returns in the future. Once you have registered for it, you can expect the IRS to deliver your IP-PIN in December.
Visit the IRS website and click on the Get an IP PIN tab. That will ensure immediate assignment of your IP-PIN for use on your tax returns.
There are many ways felons can steal your identity to commit tax-related crimes. The thieves usually claim a refund fraudulently by filing a bogus return after they have stolen a taxpayer’s tax identification or social security number.
If you are the victim of such tax-related identity theft, you are likely to find out when you try to file a return. If such theft has taken place, you will be informed that your return has already been filed.
You could also learn of such identity theft from the IRS who would communicate any suspicious return made by an identity thief who has used your social security number.
The IRS often suspects such theft if the credits or payments on the account exceed the refund claimed by the fraudulent filer.
The IRS also describes “phone scams” wherein a taxpayer is threatened on the phone with deportation, arrest or license revocation in order to extract an undue payment from such taxpayer.
Taxpayers may also receive bogus e-mails (phishing) detailing unexpected amounts of taxes or refunds due. Such mails usually aim at extracting personal information by including links to bogus websites. Taxpayers must be familiar with the message from the IRS not to expect any email about a refund or bill “out of the blue.”
The following details a problem you could face and how you could tackle it.
Situation: The IRS sent you a notice informing you that somebody has attempted to file a potentially fraudulent return using your account details.
Call the number mentioned in the letter. The IRS only communicates via email. It could be a 5071C letter, wherein the IRS seeks to verify your identity because of a return filed in your name. Alternatively, it could be a 4883C letter seeking additional information to verify your identity. It could even be a 12C letter informing you that it needs additional information to process your return. Or it could be a 4310C letter, a post-adjustment letter sent by the IRS after it has identified ID theft.
