Friday, February 6, 2015

Filing Tax Returns Electronically? Be careful and read this

TurboTax Temporarily Halts E-Filing In All States Amid Fraud Concerns

Up to 18 states are reporting significant upticks in fraudulent activity and there may be a common thread: tax preparation software.

The State of Alabama Department of Revenue released a statement yesterday about fraud concerns, saying only, “The fraudulent filings originate from data compromised through a third-party commercial tax preparation software process and were detected through ADOR’s fraud detection systems.” They were quick to assure taxpayers, however, that “[o]ur systems have not been compromised.” Just two weeks into tax season, however, the number of suspicious returns in the state has already hit 16,000, all of which were “filed suspected of fraud from the third-party commercial tax preparation software.”

Be careful out there.