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I filed taxes for 2014 months back, got the return, and all was well. Then I got a series of tax return emails over the course of two days (in June 2015) from a different seemingly legit site (1040.com), indicating that someone has filed a return with my name and email address. The return was apparently declined by the IRS, then resubmitted and subsequently accepted by the IRS.

I do not know anything else yet about the event (such as if my SSN was used). I'm baffled why someone would use my email address unless it's a phishing attempt, yet there is no indication of phishing. Nor is there any evidence of email tampering.

If I've already filed, do I have nothing to worry about? Should I report this to the IRS even if there's no evidence of actual fraud (so far)?

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    Why does 1040.com look legit to you?
    – JTP - Apologise to Monica ♦
    Jun 10, 2015 at 22:34
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    1040.com claims to be run by Drake Software, and there is a letter from Drake Software hosted on the irs.gov on the subject of tax-preparation software (irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/stmt_-john_sapp-_drake.pdf). The extremely high price of short, recognizable domains like that also suggests it's run by a legitimate business and not a scammer. Whether the emails are actually from that site (and not phishing emails) is another question.
    – nobody
    Jun 11, 2015 at 0:31
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    Report it (1) to 1040.com and (2) to the IRS. In both cases, if you send e-mails or access any support web services, be sure to type all e-mail/web addresses manually and not to click on addresses in any e-mails that you received. Either or both of 1040.com and the IRS might ask for further info, but both could be very interested in following up whether they get back to you or not..
    – user2338816
    Jun 12, 2015 at 0:20

2 Answers 2

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Given that 1040.com does appear to be a legit tax preparation service, there is another, harmless (to you, anyway) possibility: Someone with the same name as you has filed his tax return using your email address, probably in the honest belief that it is his email address, and therefore you are getting notifications about his tax return.

This sort of thing happens all the damn time, particularly to people with relatively common names who use email services that hand out firstname.lastname@service.com addresses. My SO keeps getting email intended for someone with the same name who lives in the UK; we have learned enough about her that we could show up on her doorstep and beg her to stop -- and that probably wouldn't do any good at all.

I might try to contact the service and explain the situation -- this could be a very serious problem for the other Dan Hoyt. Unfortunately, they may not comprehend the problem.

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    Ugh I know this all too well. Up until about a year ago, I kept getting emails intended for someone with the exact same name as me, except there was an underscore in the name (mine is first.last92 vs theirs being first.last_92). Internets tells me this is more common than you'd think, and it wouldn't surprise me if this is exactly what happened.
    – user17781
    Jun 11, 2015 at 2:59
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    I would say that if they fail to comprehend the problem they are not a very serious institution.
    – Taemyr
    Jun 11, 2015 at 10:08
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    I received someone's full credit report that he emailed to the wrong person, same name @ gmail.com. He sent me an email asking me to delete it and sent me a $25 Amazon gift card for doing so. It had all of his personal information.
    – Engineer2021
    Jun 11, 2015 at 11:43
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    xkcd.com/1279
    – cpast
    Jun 11, 2015 at 12:34
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    Doesn't even have to be firstname.lastname, or firstinitial.lastname, or anything like that -- I've been getting email intended for someone who's name is nothing like mine, at an email address that is nothing like either of our names. I've seen his library checkouts, video rentals, online dating profiles, and even his pay stubs, all because he bizarrely started using this address out of the blue and thus effectively sending them to me. Even in "meatspace", the same thing can happen: My wife and I routinely get mail for some guy at our house, because he's apparently given out the wrong address.
    – Kromey
    Jun 11, 2015 at 17:06
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The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers via email. This is a scam.

The IRS doesn't initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information. This includes requests for PIN numbers, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial accounts.

Even if it seems like they aren't asking for anything yet, it's likely they will soon.

Also note that the IRS is a governmental organization, and uses a .gov TLD; it's unlikely they would use a .com.

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    The OP never said the emails were from the IRS, but from the tax preparation site. The description matches actual emails I have received from online tax preparation services when filing my own taxes online. The only question is why a someone filing a fraudulent return would use the target's actual email address instead of one they control.
    – nobody
    Jun 11, 2015 at 0:23

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