5071C Letters

[Summit1]

are many of your clients receiving 5071C letters requesting Identity Verification thus delaying their refunds up to 9 weeks?

[PATAX]

@Summit1 I haven't received one and I do not know of any local tax preparers that have received one...

[sjrcpa]

I've had a couple of clients get them.

[PATAX]

@Summit1 make sure it is a legitimate letter... I haven't received one in years but I think it came from Austin Texas.  

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

Seen a few from the state of CA, I dont think anyone has called with a federal one yet though.    

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

TurboTax did have a security breach, maybe some phony returns got filed

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/intuit-notifies-customers-of-compromised-turbotax-acc...

[Summit1]

I had the client scan and email the letter and it appears to be authentic. It is from the IRS is Austin, TX and references the Integrity & Verification Operations Division. You are encouraged to chose the online option. The IRS provides additional information as to what information you should have when you logon. It seems to me that they are trying to look for identity theft. 

The alarming part is that this is going to hold up the clients refund for another 9 weeks. 

[Summit1]

 Thank you!

[Summit1]

Thank you!

[Summit1]

Thank you

[dascpa]

At least 25 this year.  More than ever before.

[Summit1]

It appears that the IRS is experiencing an increase in people filing fraudulent returns. My client is going to try and resolve this online this evening. I will be available to the client if they don't know exactly where to find the information the IRS is requesting to confirm their identity. Based on the letter they received the IRS has received a return using this clients name but the return filed does not appear to contain the same type of information that this client usually reports.

If the client is successful, I  will update my post and provide additional information.

I did see a reply to my post indicating that Turbotax experienced a data breach last year. Does anyone know if ProSeries experienced a databreach?

[Just-Lisa-Now- · Accepted solution]

The Turbotax breach was announced a few days ago, its current, not from last year. ProSeries isnt an online DIY program it can't be "breached" like Turbotax.  TurboTax has had similar issues in prior years as well though.