I have been a victim of identity theft and have learned a lot concerning identity theft, the proper way to report identity theft & the professional license holder.
First, read all your mail or email is your first line of defense with identity theft. One day I received a postcard notification I was changing my mailing address at a bank we do not use. To make a long story short, I contacted the bank, gathered information, and assured them the transaction(s) were identity theft.
The thieves named a local postal ship & receive center as their (my) office address. I visited the postal ship & receive center to open/access my mailbox and they claimed I wasn’t in their records.
I filed a police report in the city of where the bank was located (which was the city were my fictitious business operate) and the suburb adjoining city where we live.
A year later, the state’s tax commission notified me and informed that I was delinquent with my state withholding tax reports for my fictitious business. I responded and included the police reports of the city of incident and the city of my residence. This seemed to be accepted by the tax commission.
This caused me to reflect as a CPA. If they notified the state’s tax commission, should not I also notify the state’s accounting licensing board to avoid someone illegitimately opening an accounting office in my name? Which I have done.
The staff of a consumer watchdog on the radio alerted me to filing police reports as to “put notice to the world that you are addressing the issue and informing the public at large”. While this advice seemed rather flimsy at the time, the state tax commission readily accepted it as date proof of an illegal happenstance.
*** I am NOT a tax expert. I am a seasoned TurboTax user, and volunteer to provide assistance to TT users. Nothing I post is to be considered TAX ADVICE; I bear no legal liability for responses.***
