Tax Scams & Data Breaches

Fraudsters have taken on new tactics to steal identities this year, and they are targeting North Dakota businesses. There has been a rise in the number of local, small to mid-sized businesses that have discovered data breaches. Fraudsters use the information obtained for a number of things, including individual income tax refund fraud. Information is available for individuals on how they can help prevent tax fraud, and what to do if they believe they are a victim. But what if your business has been targeted? 

If you discover that your business has had a data breach, take the following steps:

• Follow North Dakota law on how to handle notices.
• Notice of a data breach should be sent to the IRS.
• Notice of a data breach should be sent to the North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner’s Taxpayer Services section at the following information:
  • Email:  taxidtheft@nd.gov; Phone: 701-328-1242
• Notice of a data breach should be sent to all state tax agencies as criminals will use the information across the country:
  • Email: StateAlert@taxadmin.org (the Federation of Tax Administrators will share the high level information to all state tax agencies)
    • Please include the company name, FEIN/PTIN and a brief description of what happened.

More information on how to respond to a data breach may be found on the Federal Trade Commission’s website. 

More information from the IRS on scams targeting businesses:

• Dangerous W-2 Phishing Scam Evolving; Targeting Schools, Restaurants, Hospitals, Tribal Groups and Others
• Tax Scams / Consumer Alerts