Taxes, IRS may be next big headache for unemployed and fraud victims in Nevada

People already fighting Nevada's unemployment agency for benefits might have a second battle on their hands soon with the IRS.

PEOPLE ALREADY FIGHTING NEVADA’SUNEMPLOYMENT AGENCY FOR BENEFITSMIGHT HAVE A SECOND BATTLE ONTHEIR HANDS SOON -- WITH THEI-R-S!!13 CHIEF INVESTIGATOR DARCYSPEARS EXPLAINS THE TAX MESSTHAT’S ALREADY STARTING TO SHOWUP FOR MANY NEVADANS AND WHATYOU CAN DO TO FIX IT./nat showing model airplane/ELLIOT EPSTEIN IS ONE OF THELUCKY ONES.

HE DOESN’T NEEDGOVERNMENT MONEY.:57 Elliot: That is correct,yes.HIS BUSINESS HAS TAKEN OFF,GETTING BIGGER AND BETTER AS THEPANDEMIC DRAGS ON.:35 Elliot: With people stuckat home there’s been a lot ofresurrection in people buyingpuzzles, paint by numbers, andwe’re in the model airplanebusiness.AND THESE DAYS, MORECOLLECTORS ARE INTO TINY TIN.SO, EPSTEIN KNEW SOMETHING WASFISHY WHEN HE RECEIVED THISLETTER FROM DETR.1:18 E: And the letter wasaddressed to me as the businessowner for the employee, who wasme.ANOTHER CAME TO HIS HOMESAYING HE WAS ELIGIBLE FOR $483A WEEK IN UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITSHE NEVER APPLIED FOR.1:26 Elliot: It was just kindof shocking when I was readingthis saying, what is going onhere?!HE TRIED TO CALL DETR TO STOPTHEM FROM SENDING ANY PAYMENTS.1:49 E: I could not getthrough to DETR.

No matter whatI did, they bounced me around.There was no provision for myproblem.HE HASN’T RECEIVED APAYMENT... BUT WORRIES DETRTHINKS HE DID.

THAT LEADS TOTHE NEXT CONCERN.

DETR SENT OUTALL ITS 1099 TAX FORMS TO THEIRS AT THE END OF JANUARY.3:28 E: And it’s going to bemy headache to unravel with thefederal government, which Ithink is going to be a massiveproblem.1:51 Kelly Tate/CPA: It’s justgoing to be a mess foreverybody.CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTKELLY TATE.6:28 Kelly: I’ve received twoof these so far and we’re barelystarting to get stuff to dopersonal tax returns.

BUTT TO1:10: This is a 1099 that one ofmy taxpayers got for $10,125from the state of Pennsylvania.They don’t live in Pennsylvania.Haven’t lived there for years.And now they’ve got $10,000they’re supposed to report ontheir personal income taxreturn.:31 SAIC Tara Sullivan/IRSCriminal Investigation Division:There’s certainly potential formuddy water.

As you know, a lotof people fell victim to theseunemployment scams and so whenthe scammers receive money inthe victim’s name, the IRSdoesn’t know the difference upfront.THAT’S WHAT WORRIES MILISSAFISCH.

SHE MANAGES HERHUSBAND’S HENDERSON MEDICALPRACTICE, GREEN VALLEY FERTILITYPARTNERS.4:59 Milissa Fisch: I’m goingto have to do extra steps that Ishouldn’t have to take.SHE’S STILL TRYING TO UNRAVELSOMETHING THAT BEGAN IN THESUMMER WHEN A FRAUDULENT CLAIMWAS FILED IN HER HUSBAND, DR.JEFFREY FISCH’S NAME.:13 Milissa: We contacted themon July 15, the day we receivedthe notice, and told them thisis a fraud claim, at no pointwas he unemployed, no paymentshould be issued.

At thatpoint, the person we spoke within the fraud unit informed usthat they had paid the claim.They sent a check--or actually adebit card--for more than $7900to an address in Indiana.6:48 Darcy: So there’s aquestion of whether the state isdoing its due diligence to makesure a claim is legit beforepaying it, and if not, are you apart of the problem?Elisa Cafferata/DETR Director:Right, so, in the beginning ofthe pandemic there was a greatdeal of pressure to get paymentsout to folks.DETR DIRECTOR ELISA CAFFERATASAYS THE TRADITIONAL WAITINGWEEK FOR EMPLOYERS TO RESPONDWAS WAIVED FOR AWHILE.

BUT DR.FISCH’S SITUATION IN JULY WASFOUR MONTHS IN TO THE PANDEMIC.9:17 Elisa Cafferata/DETRDirector: I believe we werewaiving the wait week, as wecall it, still then, so apayment might have gone out,they reported the fraud and thenthe payments were stopped.

Sothat is the due diligence.THE FRAUDULENT NEARLY $8,000PAYMENT IN JEFFREY FISCH’S NAME,WITH HIS SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER,IS LOGGED IN HIS EMPLOYERACCOUNT WITH DETR.

MILISSA NOWWORRIES THEY’LL BE ON THE HOOKTO PAY TAXES ON MONEY THEY NEVERGOT.4:49 Milissa: What I will haveis a tax return that getsflagged by the IRS.2:55 Elisa: The IRS is awareof the magnitude of this issueacross the country, so how manyof these they will pursue, Ireally don’t know.THE IRS SAYS, DON’T EXPECTANYTHING TO BE DIFFERENT.:56 Tara Sullivan: That’staxable and needs to bereported, so the individual isnow gonna have to go back to thestate and get the state to filea corrected 1099-G to show tothe IRS that they didn’tactually receive that money.EASIER SAID THAN DONE,ACKNOWLEDGES CAFFERATA.:19 Elisa: Because of thelevel of fraud, there will be ahuge number of folks who needcorrected 1099s, so it’s gonnatake us some time to get throughthose and as always, we’rebalancing our priorities andcontinuing to keep going withapplications and backlog as thetop priorities.:49 Darcy: Bottom line is thatyes, the IRS is telling you togo back to the state, but thestate is gonna say this is notgonna be easy and it’s not gonnabe quick.EC: Yes.

That’s the bottomline.DETR AND THE IRS SAY ON YOURTAX RETURN, YOU SHOULD REPORTWHAT YOU ACTUALLY GOT.

A REDFLAG FOR OUR C-P-A.1:30 Kelly: These are going tobe a real problem for a lot ofpeople because if you don’treport this, you’re gonna get anotice from the IRS becausethey’re going to match it up andit’s not gonna match.TAXPAYERS WHO REQUEST ACORRECTED 1099 FROM DETR ARE INFOR ANOTHER DELAY.5:09 EC: We do have toinvestigate those as well so itwill take some time.DURING THAT TIME, VICTIMS CANFILE A FRAUD REPORT ON DETR’SWEBSITE AND PRINT OUT A FORM TOSEND TO THE IRS WITH THEIR TAXRETURN.

ON THE FEDERAL SIDE...9:55 Tara: Victims shouldrequest an identity theftprotection PIN from the IRS andit can be accessed through theIRS.gov website.

And that’sgoing to be their first step inshowing the IRS that they werevictims.DETR SAYS IT MAY BE A YEARBEFORE THE IRS CONTACTSTAXPAYERS TO DEAL WITHDISCREPANCIES.2:34 Kelly: The other part,too, is that if the IRS gets areturn and things don’t match,they will sometimes hold arefund.IT DOESN’T END THERE.

DETRALSO ACKNOWLEDGES IT HAS SENTINACCURATE TAX INFORMATION TOTHE IRS FOR LEGITIMATE UI ANDPUA CLAIMANTS.1:56 EC: We’re aware that incertain situations, becausethese claims are so complicatedand sometimes payments werestopped and then re-started,that the 1099 might not reflectthe accurate amount.SHE SAYS THERE ARE ALSO LIKELYTO BE ISSUES FOR PEOPLE WHOSEPAYMENTS WERE ADJUSTED AFTERTHEY STARTED GETTING PAID.25:15 EC: And also, if therewas an overpayment, people mighthave paid us back and that mightnot be reflected in their 1099,just for timing reasons.1:23 Elliot: It’s a stateproblem.

This is incompetence.ELLIOT EPSTEIN...3:43 Elliot: And these kind ofthings tend to not clear upeasily.AND MILISSA FISCH...5:03 DETR compromised me!ARE BRACING FOR THE BATTLEAHEAD.Darcy tag: There’s a billpending in Congress that wouldexempt the first $10,200 inunemployment benefits fromincome tax in 2020.

But anyaction will likely be toolittle, too late.

In themeantime, we’ve got links toinformation, help and resourcesthrough DETR and the IRS on ourwebsite at ktnv.com.

DarcySpears, 13 Investigates