Let's say all your personal information is lost on a NJ Transit train....
My takeaway from all this is: adjust your withholding so you aren't due a refund. Besides being an interest free loan to the Fed, it attracts ID thieves, although I guess they don't even try to match your actual wages and withholding and just make stuff up? But then why would the IRS send the refund?
cupoftea said:
@kmk We had the same thing happen to us 2 years ago. Now the IRS sends us a special pin number to use when filing so they can confirm it is really us. Sadly, I think it is pretty common.
@cupoftea - The aggravating part is that someone called the IRS pretending to be me, said that they lost the PIN in the mail. The helpful IRS operator asked them for the correct SSN, address, DOB, etc. and then gave them the new PIN over the phone. #-O
@project37 - That IRS operator should be fired. The whole reason for the PIN is to protect against that sort of thing.
Just to update, now that I can use the new forum....
NJ Transit contacted my husband on Monday -- the folder with the tax documents was at the lost & found in Hoboken! They offered to hold it for him to pick it up but since we don't NEED the documents, the woman he spoke with shredded them.
Happy ending. Though I was kind of secretly hoping some rich philanthropist would find our taxes and write a big check for us to send in. Ah well. We'll keep the Equifax family monitoring plan on for a little while longer just to be on the safe side.
Thanks for everyone's help and support! It's nice to know the lost & found works, AND that there are some kind souls who ride NJTransit. 
Whew, afa, what a relief, such good news!
Actually, I have some tentative good news, too. Spoke to a guy at IRS on Tuesday (yes, got through to IRS on 4/14!), and he said our refund check for 2013 was to be mailed out yesterday, 4/15, with interest, no less. otoh, apparently no PIN for us, at least at this time; but since we owed a pile of $ on the 2014 return, I don't care how long it takes them to process it. For 2015, I'll try to keep an eye on the withholding to make sure IRS doesn't have a bunch more of our $ than they need, just in case.
I wonder what they'll come up with as a system-wide fix for all this, and when.
Yes, they DO pay interest if your refund is held up like that. And you will get a 1099 for it next year.
For Sale
Garage Sales
-
House Contents Sale Sale Date: May 18, 2024
More info
Free Items
Sponsored Business
Promote your business here - Businesses get highlighted throughout the site and you can add a deal.
When I filed for 2013, last October, IRS sent a notice advising that it would take a while to process our refund, and on the phone they let on that someone had already filed using my name, SSN, and address. I sent them the required paperwork right away, but was later (months later) told it takes at least 6 months to process. I'm not holding my breath expecting it to be ready in 6 months (May), and I'm very grateful we weren't actually depending on the money we have coming back. I'm assuming that even though they sent a refund in my name to some thief, DH and I will still get back our (his) excess withholding... eventually.
Lately, in our local newspaper police blotter, each of the nearby towns is running 5 or 6 reported tax filing ID thefts a week, and these aren't large towns, smaller than SOMA. Nationwide, this must be taking a HUGE amount of IRS time, leave alone the $ they've sent out that they're not likely to get back.
eta: kmk, thanks for additional info. I have that same vision of someone peering at the returns. It should be totally obvious that the one I sent in is a very close match to those we've filed for years and years, as I pointed out in the cover letter. But who knows whether they'll pull the prior years to find out. argh!