DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Ohio Tax Identity Confirmation Quiz (Rant)

OK...I have to rant...

I received the letter from the tax department requesting Identity Confirmation before they will release my refund (and also my donation to the Military Relief fund that I always donate some of my money to). I have already heard the horror stories of the some of the obscure questions that can come from this quiz. Simple Example

My issue is that the online system errors and won't even offer me the quiz. When I called the "department" (its actually a contractor and NOT the actual department of taxation) the representative could not access a quiz for me either. So I have been dumped into the "you got to send your entire life to the state for your return" bin. The things I am to mail to are:

1. Copy of my Drivers license
2. Copy of my Social Security Card
3. Copy of my Federal Return
4. Birth Certificate or Utility Bill.
5. The quiz letter I received.
6. All W2s.
7. Any Ohio tax worksheets.

(Side note...you only need a DL and Birth Cert to get a replacement SSN card)

As a person who works in the background check industry, this is laughable. For COMPLIANCE reasons in our industry, you can't mail this personal id info or fax to a general fax number without scrubbing it. What I find really ironic is that in the letter they send, they mask the social to the last 4 digits, yet I am to send them all the info UNMASKED. If I choose to fax, its to a general number. I asked the guy to who's attention would I fax. I got an "I don't know" for an answer!

I have contacted multiple people at the department and they all say the same thing. You got to mail in all this stuff or fax it.
I say, just fix the stupid thing so I can take this quiz.

I've read articles where the department defends this process and that 97% of people have no problem answering the questions. I would bet that is a lie since I know quite a few others with similar issues. I surmise that I can answer the questions IF THEY WOULD FIX THE THING SO I CAN BE ASKED THEM!

I honestly can't believe that mailing all these documents is even an option. IF one person gets their ID stolen due to the USPS, then the system is a FAIL. If one person dials the wrong fax number (it happens...I've received a person's medical records before and also someone's divorce records to my personal fax number) then the system is a fail.

Sorry to rant, but this is a garbage system. Someone somewhere in the tax department should be able to ask me the "magic questions".

/End Of Rant

I'd not heard of this until last month when a friend had to answer the quiz to get his refund.

One of his questions was "who did you sell your house to back in 2000?" He lived out of state back then.

I don't ever get refunds. If I over paid (which normally occurs), I just have the overpayment deducted from my first quarterly payment.

i had to "confirm" my identity when i filed this year.

stupid. They was asking me questions back when in 2004 when i was 16. How the hell am i suppose to remember that crap?

Then since i filed married/jointly, my wife had to answer, and she hasn't been in country more than 2 years.

They use Lexis Nexis as the data provider from which the craft the questions. I will tell you straight up that we use Lexis and it contains tons of obscure info and a ton of flat out WRONG info. Same name + same DOB, you might just get the other John Smith's questions. Same last 4 digits of SSN with someone else? You might get their questions. I know what data Lexis has and I'm privy to it. All public records, partial SSNs and tons of wrong data.