Taxpayers puzzled by anti-fraud measures; ‘Is this a scam?’ (Ohio)

Thousands of Ohioans are getting asked some curious questions online and over the phone lately, such as: How old is your grandchild? What brand of car do you have? How long is your mortgage?

Many of these people have a question of their own: What is this—some kind of scam?

The answer: The quiz is legit, part of an effort by the state to thwart … scams. Specifically, the filing of phony tax returns.

Under the new program, some Ohioans who have filed their taxes get letters in the mail from the state Department of Taxation directing them to take a quiz to verify their identity. They are told to go online or dial a number.

They are asked four multiple-choice questions—all aimed at ensuring that the tax return submitted in their name is genuine and not an attempt by an identity thief to collect a refund check. …

Ok, it’s legit. But how does the State official asking the questions know the correct answers?

I suppose the answer to “What brand of car do you have?” can be gotten from the BMV, but “How long is your mortgage”? How is that info accessible to said State official?

And “How old is your grandchild”? How does this State question asker know I have grandchildren, let alone how old they are?

Does the State official have to pull the info from several databases, or is there one concise file on each citizen?

“...The state said it intercepted thousands of fraudulent returns seeking to steal more than $270 million in refunds last year, compared with $8 million to $10 million in recent years....”
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Stopping a fraudulent payment is a good thing. But how many grifters have they nailed? The criminals who file these fraudulent returns each file many returns. Their goal is to simply get as much money as they can over a few weeks and then disappear—if they are only 50% successful they will make a huge amount of money. The authorities need to identify, arrest and successfully prosecute these felons; that’s the best way to reduce fraud.

“They are asked four multiple-choice questions”

It doesn’t say they have to be true. Just set up a system
that’s easy to remember. All written answers cold be “this sux”
and all multiple choice could be the first choice on every
question.

What really scares me is when they ask serious personal
questions that they already know the answer to like
“in what state was your sister in law born” or “what year
did you join the NRA”.

We got these letters. Since we have to file jointly, both of us have to answer the questions.

They pull info from all sorts of sources going back decades. Well, either their info is wrong, or my wife’s memory is going, but she failed two sets of four questions. They don’t mention you only get two chances. Now we have to either call a number (during government employee business hours, most likely) or send in 7 pieces of documentation, including birth certificate, driver license, social security card, full tax return (which they already have), etc.

The questions were ridiculous. Zip code of the address she lived at with her first husband right out of college. Amount of taxes on the house in 2014 (firstly, the house is in my name, so why should she know the taxes. Secondly, the county was late with tax billing in 2013 and didn’t send out the bills that would normally get paid in 2013 until 2014. So what number do they want - they amount of tax I was billed and paid in 2014 for the year 2015, the amount of tax I was assessed in 2014 but paid in 2013 and 2014, or the total amount of tax I paid in 2014 regardless of what tax year it was due in? In any event, none of their choices matched an of those.) Color of a car she bought in 1994 and we haven’t owned for years.

What is particularly ironic, is I’ve lived in the same house for 25 years. Worked for the same employer for 15. My wife has lived here 7 consecutive years and a few on top of that. The same address is on all our W2s and every form of income we have. Other than requesting a direct deposit (to the same account I’ve requested every year for decades), everything on our return cross references with our address, which cross references to the tax records they pulled, the vehicle information they pulled, the driver license information they pulled. How could I possibly be committing fraud or identity theft? About the only thing I can think of would be for them to mail a paper check to the only address we have if they’re all that worried, or call the bank and verify our account has the same address on it.

Why does the state know the age of my grandkids? I know they have information about my car and my mortgage.
These idiot questions: /Paternal grandmother’s maiden name/licence plate of first car/where meet second spouse/street of your third job/your fifth cat’s name/what color lipstick your third wife liked/name of your second cousin’s first dog/ are pretty dumb. I don’t give the “right” answers.

This year’s tax season has turned into a nightmare. People who haven’t signed up for Obamacare are getting bills for Obamacare fines, which can about only be refuted by a tax accountant. But they cannot just be ignored or you will be hit with with a huge bill.

The IRS has diverted so many employees to handle the Obamacare stuff that regular taxes are turning into a disaster, with random computer audits and bills for imaginary mistakes. Again, needing a tax accountant to resolve.

If you send in your taxes, do so as quickly as possible, because if they are sent in on time, you may not get any return for who knows how long. And send them by Certified Mail, in case they decide to start shredding returns again to evade work.

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