There is no recent data on how much tax ID theft is costing US government exchequer.  But a study from the Government Accountability Office has estimated a loss for $5.8 billion centering such fraud in 2013.

The North Dakota Tax Department has stopped more than 900 returns claiming $1.3 million in fraudulent refunds last year. However, victims of tax identity theft related fraudulences eventually gets traumatized while passing through the further fraud prevention measures, reports KXNews quoting Kathy Schneider, Owner of Liberty Tax.

Fraudsters have reportedly breached an IRS database in 2015 and stolen records on up to 330,000 taxpayers. This tax record theft has prompted IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to devise new fraud fighting strategies. The strategy has been finalized upon consultation with agency staffers, state tax administrators and tax-preparation firms, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The newly adopted efforts are mostly invisible to taxpayers, but participants express satisfaction over unprecedented coordination. Different US states are adopting visible efforts as well.

Alabama and Georgia have programs that alert taxpayers if a return is filed using their Social Security number. Utah, Illinois and South Carolina are delaying refunds till March 1 or later for detection of patterns indicating ID theft, reports Nasdaq.

Old-line, stand-alone tax and accounting firms have been analyzed by the experts as the rich targets for thieves now a day. Thieves harvest large amount of data to prepare credible returns capable of slipping the fraud filters.