What to do?
The question is, what to do then?
Recovering from ID theft is difficult, but not impossible, according to Trenda Hackett, who spent 15 years as a revenue agent at the IRS and is now a technical editor/author of PPC products for Thomson Reuters Checkpoint but taxpayers need to get to work right away on implementing the steps she lays out here.
(You can see a text version of this story
Dont delay
Notify the FTC
(And in case youre wondering about the image its a statue outside the HQ of the FTC in Washington, D.C., called Man Controlling Trade.)
File a police report
Alert the credit agencies
Contact the IRS: The First Time
Contact the IRS: The Second Time
Contact the IRS: The Third Time
A few tips on the Form 14039 from Hackett: Its only for one taxpayer at a time (married couples will need to file one for each spouse, for instance); its not for businesses; and be sure to include an FTC affidavit and a police report.