Help protect your personal information by filing your 2019 tax return early - Crawford Ellenbogen

The IRS is opening the 2019 individual income tax return filing
season on Jan. 27. Even if you usually don’t file until closer to the April 15
deadline (or you file an extension), consider being an early-bird filer this
year. It can potentially protect you from tax identity theft. In these scams, a
thief uses another person’s personal information to file a fraudulent return
early in the filing season and claim a bogus refund. Then, when the legitimate
taxpayer files, the IRS rejects the return because one with the same
information has already been filed for the year. If you file first, any
would-be fraudulent returns will be rejected by the IRS, rather than yours.