Victim of TFN identity theft? The taxman can help

Identity theft is such a threat nowadays that the Tax Office has set up a Client Identity Support Centre (find it here) to help taxpayers who have had their identities stolen or misused.

The Tax Office says it will give every assistance it can, and will provide information and advice to help people re-establish a stolen identity.

If you believe your tax file number (TFN) may have been compromised, call the Tax Office support centre on 1800 467 033 (8am to 6pm Monday to Friday).

There are a number of things you can do to protect your TFN and hence reduce the risk of identity theft. And, in addition to notifying the Tax Office, there are several things you must address if you believe your identity has been compromised.

Your TFN is used to identify you in your dealings with the Tax Office. If you discard or recycle any records or other documents, you should destroy or delete your TFN from the documents beforehand, as the TFN and other personal information can be used to lodge tax returns and other tax forms.

A first step may be to check that you haven’t simply temporarily misplaced your TFN, rather than assuming it has been misused. “For example, let us know if you have received a notice of assessment about a return you haven’t lodged, or if you have included your TFN in a profile you posted online while looking for work,” the Tax Office says.

If your TFN has been compromised, the first steps the Tax Office will take will be to re-establish and confirm your identity with you and to check your tax records. Other action taken will depend on your situation and circumstances.

You may need to re-establish your identity by providing the Tax Office with proof — this may include details of personal information, such as your date of birth, address, bank account details, or TFN if you have that listed somewhere else. (See the list of agencies and departments that may be of use at the end of this article.) You may also need to provide the Tax Office with information sourced from identification documentation, such as a previous notice of assessment you may have filed away.

“We may ask you for original or certified copies of your identification, depending on your situation,” the Tax Office said. “If you have set up a secret question and answer with us, then we may ask you for those details as part of this process to re-establish your identity.”

Once original or certified copies of documents have been supplied to the Tax Office, it will need to confirm the authenticity of your identification documents.

This can take a number of weeks.

Once your personal details have been confirmed, the Tax Office will check your tax records by looking at:

• TFN declarations
• tax returns (income reported, bank accounts used, tax agents involved and other details)
• Australian business numbers (ABNs) applied for and being used, and
• employer superannuation guarantee payments made.

The revenue collection agency may ask you to confirm the information on file so it can determine which activity is yours, and which are those from another person who may be using your TFN.

The length of the investigation will vary depending on how much information is in your record, whether another person has actually used your TFN or not, and how easy it is to confirm authenticity.

See also:

• Copies of documents – applicants within Australia
• Copies of documents – applicants outside Australia

The following offices, agencies, and government departments may be of help in compiling records to help re-establish your identity, depending on your past interactions with any of them.

In your state:

• Police
• Driver’s licence and registration
• Offices of Births
• Deaths and Marriages

Credit reporting agencies:

• Veda Advantage
• Dun & Bradstreet
• Tasmanian Collection Service

Other:

• Attorney-General’s Department
• Australian Securities & Investments Commission
• Child Support Agency
• Department of Immigration and Border Protection
• Medicare Australia
• Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
• Passports Office

 

You may also be interested in our article addressing measures to protect yourself and your business from online fraud:

Tax and online fraud: protect yourself and your business