As if Americans didn t have enough headaches already with the tax season approaching, now comes news that TurboTax, the nation s best-known DIY tax software, has halted work on all state tax returns after agencies discovered a spike in fraudulent returns.
The Mountain View-based company put the brakes on processing the returns after receiving an alarming number of complaints about documents being filed using stolen personal data. Apparently, the problem has not spread over to the federal level because the Internal Revenue Service has better online security systems in place.
According to the Associated Press, Intuit spokeswoman Julie Miller said most victims discovered their security breaches after having their returns rejected by their state taxing authorities. Miller said the company has turned to Palo Alto security company Palantir to dig into the problem and find a fix – quickly.
So far, Intuit said there was no security breach of its systems. Instead, it believes personal information was stolen elsewhere and used to file returns on TurboTax.
Miller linked the problem to recent security breaches at large companies. Just this week, Blue Cross Blue Shield insurer Anthem said hackers gained access to Social Security numbers, names, addresses and other personal information of about 80 million people. It follows other security breaches at JPMorgan Chase and several retailers, including Home Depot and Target.
You have a pretty rich pool of data out there in the world, said Mille
The decision to halt state filings took effect Thursday. Intuit said any state returns that have been filed since that day will be transmitted as soon as possible. According to the AP story:
Users can still use TurboTax, and the company will file the state tax return when the halt is lifted. The company expects to start procession state returns again on Friday with increased fraud protections, said Miller.
TurboTax processed 30 million tax returns last year, Miller said.
Shares of Intuit fell more than $3 a share, or over 3 percent, morning trading Friday.
Credit: WPTV.com
