Identity theft cost the Internal Revenue Service $5.2 billion in tax year 2013, according to an analysis from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. While the IRS estimates it prevented $24.2 billion in fraudulent refunds, there are still thousands of taxpayers whose tax refunds were delayed because a criminal beat them to the joyous task of filing tax returns.

Regardless of the fact that it’s not the best budgeting strategy, people often rely on their tax refunds to pay bills. When an identity thief files a fraudulent return which is usually done through the IRS e-filing system using someone’s Social Security number, that person won’t know about the fraud till they attempt to file themselves, and instead of the speedy refund they may have been counting on, they may have no idea when they’ll get their Read More