The information you provide to your tax preparer is as sensitive as it gets. The assumption is that the tax preparation company is only using your data to prepare your taxes. In an enforcement action against Beneficial Corp., the FTC alleged that the company was engaged in unfair and deceptive practices by “using information collected

The Internal Revenue Service announced in November 2021 that it would use facial recognition technology offered by ID.me to authenticate taxpayers before using any online services the IRS provides, including viewing accounts, making online payments, or updating personal information. The IRS expected taxpayers to create an ID.me account no later than summer of 2022 by

As cryptocurrency becomes more popular with investors, CipherTrace recently issued its Q2 2019 Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering Report, which finds that “[O]utright thefts as well as scams and other misappropriation of funds from cryptocurrency users and exchanges continued apace, netting criminals and fraudsters approximately $4.26 billion in aggregate for 2019.” Yikes—that’s billion with a “b”.

The

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a warning alerting the public to a new email phishing scam that looks like a joint notice from the IRS and FBI about new tax laws.

The phishing email uses the emblems of both agencies, and asks recipients to download an FBI questionnaire related to “changes of tax

In the wake of several recent high-profile security breaches, employers are increasingly viewing identity theft protection as an essential employee benefit for employees. According to Willis Towers Watson’s 2016 voluntary benefits and services (VBS) survey, identity theft protection, offered by 35 percent of employers in 2015, could double to nearly 70 percent by 2018. Recognizing the changing needs of the workforce, employer-provided identity theft protection typically includes some form of coverage for financial losses (which can include lost wages) as well as case management services for victims of identity theft. 
Continue Reading Federal Tax Treatment of Employer-Provided Identity Protection Services

Last week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Federal Student Aid (FSA) announced that the Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) on fafsa.gov and StudentLoans.gov will be unavailable until extra security protections could be added. Since 2010, students have been able to use the DRT to transfer tax data directly into the Free Application for Federal Student

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) obtained authorization from a California federal court last November to serve a John Doe summons on the virtual currency firm Coinbase in order to obtain customer information to determine whether customers were using virtual currency to avoid paying income taxes.

Although the summons was issued in December, Coinbase has not

We have previously warned consumers about IRS phone scams that defraud consumers.

Basically, the fraudsters call unsuspecting victims over the telephone impersonating an IRS official, and intimidate the recipient of the call to believe that they have an outstanding tax liability and telling them that if they don’t pay up, they will be arrested and