A man from the local area received an unexpected tax season surprise when he discovered two paper tax returns belonging to other individuals stapled together with his own return. According to Cory Wannick, the IRS returned his paper tax return as he had signed it in the wrong location. After re-signing it, he visited the post office to resend it and noticed that the weight of his return had significantly increased from its original weight.
Upon examining his tax return page by page, Wannick was shocked to discover that two other individuals’ paper returns had been stapled together with his own. Wannick considered this to be a significant error on the part of the IRS. The tax returns contained sensitive information such as the names, addresses, incomes, and social security numbers of two random taxpayers, one residing in south Florida and the other in Louisiana. Wannick emphasized the importance of protecting such confidential data, including social security numbers, which are highly valuable in terms of privacy and financial security.
The IRS reports that 90 percent of individual tax returns are filed electronically nationwide
The IRS reports that 90 percent of individual tax returns are filed electronically nationwide. Anderson explained that mistakes like these can occur despite efforts to minimize them through electronic filing. “Typically, it’s just human error. Although the IRS attempts to reduce such errors by conducting most of its operations electronically, there are still instances where they need to send out letters to rectify errors, which can lead to mistakes,” she said.
According to tax expert Yvette Anderson, while unfortunate, incidents like these are not unheard of. “I’d say it happens every couple of years or so,” she remarked. Anderson advised that Wannick should return the documents to the IRS. FOX35 also reached out to the IRS for clarification.