Business ID Theft: Is Your Data at Risk?
The IRS and state tax authorities have made significant strides in curbing individual identity theft over the last two years. But cyber attacks against businesses are on the upswing. Here are some simple ways business taxpayers can help protect their data from hackers. Trends in ID Theft The IRS recently announced that the number of individuals reporting identity theft in the first half of 2017 has declined dramatically compared to 2015 and 2016. For the first five months of 2017, about 107,000 individual taxpayers reported stolen IDs. In comparison, 297,000 victims filed reports during the same time period in 2015 and 204,000 in 2016. Put simply, individual ID theft dropped 47% over the last year. The IRS attributes the decrease to safeguards put in place during the 2016 Security Summit. Unfortunately, the IRS has also noted an increase in ID theft involving businesstax returns. While the number of businesses affected was relatively low, the potential dollar amounts were significant:Year | Estimated business ID theft cases through June 1 | Estimated losses |
2015 | 350 tax returns | $122 million |
2016 | 4,000 tax returns | $268 million |
2017 | 10,000 tax returns | $137 million |