Tom Reed continued his efforts to protect taxpayers by cosponsoring the Stolen Identity Refund and Prevention Act of 2016. “We care about protecting hardworking taxpayers from being exploited by identity thieves,” said Reed. “Taxpayers are simply trying to pay their taxes and we must ensure that their information is safeguarded.”

The Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Prevention Act of 2016 aims to reduce tax-related identity theft by creating a centralized point of contact at the Internal Revenue Service for identity theft victims. This would result in improved taxpayer notification of suspected identity theft, and provide taxpayers an opportunity to opt out of electronic filing.

“Senior citizens are particularly at risk for identity theft, and this bill represents a commonsense approach to preventing this exploitation,” said Reed.

Many times, fraudsters will file tax returns early in the filing season under a stolen identity to steal refund checks. The identity theft victim is usually unaware of the crime until they are prevented from filing their taxes later on that year.

“My office has helped many constituents sort out IRS identity theft issues and we’ve seen the problem grow over the years,” said Reed. “To add insult to injury, the IRS can take months to resolve the issue. It’s just not right that the broken bureaucracy doubles-down on a mistake that has very real negative financial consequences for families across our region.”

The bill passed the House and goes on to the Senate for further consideration.

You can watch Reed’s comments on the bill here.