They stole logins and passwords, but no personal information was stolen?
Apparently what was stolen was the E-Filing PIN, or, rather, the hackers reset those taxpayers’ PINs. This doesn’t inherently allow you to access any personal information the IRS has – as far as I know, there is no login for taxpayers with the IRS – but they could theoretically use this to file fake returns for their victims and redirect refunds to themselves.
The token stolen is the IP PIN, with IP standing for Identity Protection. ID theft is up 47% this year due to tax fraud - and that’s just from reported stats. A couple minutes on the underwebs and you can start filing returns, but having the associated IP PIN all but guarantees it will go through.
This is one of the few times where owing taxes on your return is a Good Thing TM.
Bottom line: file your returns ASAP as you want to be the first you to file. Otherwise, here is form 14039, hope no one needs it.
Proof of concept.
Ted Cruz has promised to abolish the IRS, so elect him and problem solved!
Of course, we’ll have the problem of how to fund the workings of government, but we can burn that bridge when we come to it.
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