Received a Significant Refund for a Year I Didn't File a Tax Return

The US Treasury just sent me a $10,000 cheque that was marked 2021 tax refund. I verified its legitimacy by shining a torch on it and using a magnifying glass to examine Lady Liberty. The only issue is that, because I was a high school student and didn’t have any income that year, I neglected to file my taxes. Do I need to give the IRS a call? How should I proceed? :thinking: :thinking: :thinking:

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Create an account and review your transcripts on the IRS website first. It is your responsibility to verify whether the IRS genuinely has a record of a 2021 return that you filed. This is a hoax if not.

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Any IRS cheque that has round digits is especially dubious. Adhere to this guidance.

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I rounded the figure for simplicity even though it wasn’t a round number on the bill. The total sum was 10496.83.

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I located it. It appears that some lesser payments from two years prior were combined and sent at one time. Having said that, it appears that taxes for self-employment income were submitted in November 2022. I most certainly did not do that.

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It appears that your SSN was used fraudulently to file a return.

To ensure that nothing more dubious is going on, you should examine your credit.

Notifying the IRS is another requirement. You can give them a call, but be prepared for lengthy hold times.

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Fortunately, a few years ago, I froze my credit because of another problem. My transcripts show that it’s a combination of three credits that were posted seven months before my name was submitted for taxes by another person. But I’ll give the IRS a call and enquire about that.

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Someone may have stolen your identity and filed a tax return in your name, or it could be a case of check fraud where they’re hoping you’ll cash the check and then contact you to return some of the money or engage in another form of fraud.

People are suggesting that you review your tax transcripts, but if you’re not familiar with taxes, it might be hard to understand what’s happening. If you have a local IRS office, it’s a good idea to make an in-person appointment to have them review your transcripts. They can check if a return was filed using your information or if any income was reported under your identity. They’ll be able to tell you if it’s a fake or fraud and advise you on the next steps. If there’s no office nearby, you can also call them, but remember that local offices usually require an appointment.

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So I think I figured it out. I was looking through my transcripts like everyone suggested and learned that someone did attempt to fraudulently use my SSN to get a huge refund. They asked for the refund in cash so they could cash it and leave me to deal with the aftermath. The only problem? I move around a lot and spent the last two years fighting the IRS on issues relating to my tax returns and my addresses so the check being sent out got delayed. My taxes went through this year so the refund got sent to me at my current address instead of wherever the scammer wanted it to go. I’ll be contacting the IRS when they open tomorrow to return the check and get everything sorted. Thank you for the help!