DanielV01
Expert Alumni

Get your taxes done using TurboTax

It depends.  If your Social has been used for an electronic filing, your option to file right now is to mail in your return.  Unfortunately, it will probably take some time for the IRS to straighten everything out.  You also do well to contact the IRS to report potential tax fraud.  Please click on the following IRS link for more information on how to do so:  Identity Theft Information for Taxpayers and Victims | Internal Revenue ...

Unfortunately, privacy laws have a two-edged sword.  They are designed to protect your private information, but they have an unintended consequence of also protecting the identity of those who might use our private information fraudulently.  It will likely not be possible to find out exactly who may have used your information without authorization.

By filing a return by mail and reporting potential ID theft, it will alert the IRS to the situation and begin the process.  Since you have a right to file a return as married filing separately and would have been required to sign any form that would have electronically filed your return any other way (whether claimed incorrectly as a dependent or an unauthorized joint return), While it may take some time, you can be confident that your true return will be accepted and processed by the IRS, and they will take steps to ensure that your identity will not be stolen in the future.  It is possible that they will issue you a Taxpayer IPPIN (Identity Protection Personal Identification Number) in order to prevent others from using your SSN fraudulently or without authorization.

Please note:  the above is tax advice and is not legal advice.  For legal advice on your situation, we recommend you to contact an attorney.

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