# IRS rejected our taxes because they've already been filed

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irs-rejected-our-taxes-because-theyve-already-been-filed/715623>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 21, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irs-rejected-our-taxes-because-theyve-already-been-filed/715623 "2015-03-21T18:17:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irs-rejected-our-taxes-because-theyve-already-been-filed/715623/41 "2015-04-04T13:10:33Z")

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Thank you very much. I’ll see what we can do to fix this.

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**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irs-rejected-our-taxes-because-theyve-already-been-filed/715623/42 "2015-04-07T13:19:35Z")

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> [@PunditLisa](#):
>
> Update: The IRS confirmed that we were victims of fraud, however they wouldn’t give us details. …

At what stage in the process did you get the initial rejection?

I filed our taxes on Saturday, and within 24 hours got an email from Intuit saying “return has been accepted”. I checked the “where’s my refund” page and as of this morning it’s still in the “return received” stage, not “refund approved” yet.

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**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irs-rejected-our-taxes-because-theyve-already-been-filed/715623/43 "2015-04-07T22:01:35Z")

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I found out within an hour or so. At first, it said that the e-filing went through. And then a 2nd email a short time later reported that the IRS rejected it.

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**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irs-rejected-our-taxes-because-theyve-already-been-filed/715623/44 "2015-04-08T15:22:53Z")

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> [@PunditLisa](#):
>
> I found out within an hour or so. At first, it said that the e-filing went through. And then a 2nd email a short time later reported that the IRS rejected it.

I was reading up on the Anthem breach, followed some links on IRS identity theft and stumbled across a report on Brian Krebs’ website that sounds useful:

> **[Sign Up at irs.gov Before Crooks Do It For You – Krebs on Security](https://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/03/sign-up-at-irs-gov-before-crooks-do-it-for-you/)**
>
> If you're an American and haven’t yet created an account at irs.gov, you may want to take care of that before tax fraudsters create an account in your name and steal your personal and tax data in the process. Recently, KrebsOnSecurity…

There’s one comment there that sounds a LOT like your situation (perhaps it even _is_ you!). Ouch.

I set up my [irs.gov](http://irs.gov) account as a result of the article, I’m going to make my husband and kids do so as well.

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**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irs-rejected-our-taxes-because-theyve-already-been-filed/715623/45 "2015-04-08T15:49:52Z")

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> [@Mama\_Zappa](#):
>
> I was reading up on the Anthem breach, followed some links on IRS identity theft and stumbled across a report on Brian Krebs’ website that sounds useful:  
> [Sign Up at irs.gov Before Crooks Do It For You – Krebs on Security](http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/03/sign-up-at-irs-gov-before-crooks-do-it-for-you/)
> 
> There’s one comment there that sounds a LOT like your situation (perhaps it even _is_ you!). Ouch.

It’s good to know that there are a lot of Americans out there who are stupid enough and/or dishonest enough to help the fraudsters with their crimes, as long as there’s a bit of a kickback. From your linked story:

> [@](#):
>
> For starters, the woman who owned the bank account that received his phony refund — a student at a local Pennsylvania university — said she got the transfer after responding to a Craigslist ad for a moneymaking opportunity.
> 
> Kasper said the detective learned that money was deposited into her account, and that she sent the money out to locations in Nigeria via Western Union wire transfer, keeping some as a profit, and apparently never suspecting that she might be doing something illegal.

Unbelievable! In this case, i’ll go with stupid, because, as the guy in the article says, who would be crazy enough to defraud the IRS and have the money direct deposited into their own US bank account?

> [@Mama\_Zappa](#):
>
> I set up my [irs.gov](http://irs.gov) account as a result of the article, I’m going to make my husband and kids do so as well.

I just set up my account as well, and checked for a transcript, and they have no record of a 2014 tax return filed in my name yet, which is good, because I haven’t finished my taxes yet.

I’m an Anthem health insurance customer.

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**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irs-rejected-our-taxes-because-theyve-already-been-filed/715623/46 "2015-04-08T17:18:33Z")

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This happened to me last year as well. I had to fill out some forms and paper file. Took about 6 months to get my refund and got a PIN from the IRS for all future filings. Sadly this seems pretty common lately.

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**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irs-rejected-our-taxes-because-theyve-already-been-filed/715623/47 "2015-04-10T02:06:40Z")

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I am seeing multiple reports of people getting surprise checks for thousands of dollars from the IRS. The only problem is that these people haven’t filed tax returns yet.

Some crooks are giving the IRS bank account numbers for direct deposit, but the direct deposit fails for some reason. So the IRS sends a check to the taxpayer’s real address.

Another scheme is also surfacing: Crooks are sending in false change-of-address forms for businesses. Then they generate W-2 forms that look like they came from the business. When the IRS tries to contact the business about the W-2 forms, the mail is delayed or lost.

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