My wife and I had our identities stolen. Someone filed for a federal tax return using our Social Security numbers.

We filed Jan. 26. But our return was overridden by an electronic filing.

I was shocked to learn that the Internal Revenue Service gave a refund without having Forms 1099 and W-2s to verify the information on Form 1040.

The IRS does not receive these forms until June. The refund was given based on fraudulent information; correct information was ignored.

The steps to take once you become a victim of identity theft are time-consuming and frustrating:

• Report incidents of identify theft to the Federal Trade Commission.

• File a report with the local police.

• Contact the IRS and file Form 14039 (an identify theft affidavit).

• Contact the fraud departments of the three major credit bureaus to freeze your credit.

We were advised by the IRS that it might take between six and eight months to receive our refund.

Because of the help of Jennifer at Sen. Susan Collins’ office, this was cut to less than three months. For that, we are greatly appreciative.

The senator’s staff took the time to have me take part in a call so that I could explain the details of what happened. They worked with the IRS’ Taxpayer Advocate Service to expedite our refund.

Currently, billions of dollars are wasted on fraudulent refunds, the expense of chasing down the fraudulent filers and working on the verification of the legitimate filers’ tax forms.

The solution seems simple: The IRS should not give refunds without the supporting documents to verify those that accompany Form 1040. This will take an act of Congress.

If it means no electronic filing for refunds till the problem is fixed, so be it.

Rick Zaccaro

Portland

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