Unless you’re anticipating a sizeable return, filing taxes is no fun at all. In fact, most people put it off until they risk missing the April 15th deadline. But you know what is even less fun than filing your taxes? Doing all the work, that comes with filing your taxes, to find out that you are a victim of tax identity theft.
In addition to the April tax deadline, you should keep another date in mind: January 29th, 2024. That’s the date the IRS begins accepting 2023 returns, and filing as close to that date as possible could minimize your chances of falling victim to tax identity theft.
How Filing Early Helps
In this increasingly common scam, thieves use victims’ personal information to file fraudulent tax returns electronically and claim bogus refunds. When the real taxpayers file, they’re notified that they’re attempting to file duplicate returns.
Tax identity theft can cause major headaches to straighten out and significantly delay legitimate refunds. But if you file first, it will be the thief who’s filing the duplicate return, not you.
Another Key Date
Of course, you need to have your W-2s and 1099s to file. So another key date to be aware of is January 31, 2024— the deadline for employers to issue 2023 W-2s to employees and, generally, for businesses to issue 1099s to recipients of any 2023 interest, dividend or reportable miscellaneous income payments.
An Added Bonus
In addition to lowering the chances of tax identity theft, an added bonus of filing early is enjoying that refund sooner. So, get those taxes filed as early as possible and don’t hesitate to seek support from a tax expert.
