VIRGINIA BEACH (WAVY) — As many as 13,000 residents in various areas of Virginia Beach have received state tax form 1099-G with partial Social Security numbers, names and home addresses belonging to someone else.
A news release from the City of Virginia Beach Tuesday said everyone who received the incorrect form has been identified and they will receive corrected forms.
Del. Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach) introduced legislation on Monday afternoon to provide the victims with credit monitoring. He told 10 On your Side that the Youngkin administration has confirmed they will provide the monitoring.
More than 20 people notified 10 On Your Side beginning on January 28.
The 1099-G is a form that states what a person received as a credit or refund on their state tax return in a previous year, which could be subject to federal tax depending on a taxpayer’s particular situation. The postcard-sized notice includes that amount, the last four digits of the taxpayer’s social security number and home address.
“Somebody has to do something about this because this is not right,” said Jennifer Simmons, who received a form that was meant for someone down the street from her.
“My first thought was, this has got to be fake. Somebody’s sending me something that’s a spam or something,” said Thomas Meehan, who lives about 13 miles away from Simmons, and received a form meant for someone else in his same zip code, 23456.
Both Simmons and Meehan said they plan to hand deliver the form they received to the correct person.
“Most people, you’re gonna get your neighbor’s form and you’re gonna politely walk it over to your neighbor, but unfortunately there’s a part of our society that thrives on stealing people’s information,” Anderson said in a Monday morning interview.
“Down the road, there could be an issue,” Simmons said.
Anderson’s credit monitoring bill was introduced as an emergency measure, and achieved unanimous consent of all 100 delegates to be considered. He said the protection that will last a year will be “just like any corporation would have to do if (it has) a data breach, intentional or unintentional. We can’t take a chance with Virginians’ personal information and we need to make sure that they’re protected,” Anderson said.
The Department of Taxation emailed WAVY this response:
“Virginia Tax takes protection of taxpayer information very seriously. We are addressing a reported issue affecting printed 1099Gs for a number of taxpayers in the Virginia Beach area. We have thoroughly investigated this matter with the vendor and identified the specific taxpayers affected. Fortunately, any personal account information on the Form 1099G is redacted, so the information of those taxpayers affected remains safe and secured.
Virginia Department of Taxation
We are contacting each affected taxpayer to explain the situation and confirm they will receive a corrected 1099G. In addition, taxpayers can always access correct Form 1099G information at www.individual.tax.virginia.gov/1099G/login.jsf.
We deeply regret this error and apologize for any inconvenience. We will have additional information about this situation posted on our website tomorrow. As always, taxpayers with questions can contact our call center at 804.367.8031 or visit tax.virginia.gov. Agents are available from Monday –Friday 8:30am-5pm.”
The mistake only impacted Virginia Beach taxpayers. Anyone who received an incorrect form is advised to destroy it.
For more information or if you have questions related to this incident, please contact the Department of Taxation at (804) 367-8031 or https://www.tax.virginia.gov/contact-us.
