Should I be concerned about ID theft with 1099 sent to wrong address?

February 24, 2009 8:54 AM

A contract employer sent my 1099-MISC to my old address at which I haven't resided since Jan. 2007. Should I be concerned about possible identity theft/fraud? I already had a fraudulent charge to one of my credit cards shortly after my mail stopped forwarding. Also, are there any repercussions I can/should take against the employer (large state university)?
posted by conigs to Work & Money (2 answers total)

It's not their duty to keep track of you when you move. It's nice if they ask before sending, but legally all they have to do is send it by Jan 31st to the last address they have on file for you. It shouldn't be a huge deal to ask the university for another copy, these things happen.

You should do anything you can to try to find the original though, because it does have your social security number on it. Call around to the old residence, the post office, etc.
posted by slow graffiti at 9:42 AM on February 24, 2009

Response by poster: It's been a crazy time with the accounting dep't. in 2006 I was contract, 2007 they insisted I go on payroll (and had the proper, current address), then 2008 was contract again and all invoices had proper address, though they still used the one from 2006. (Also should be noted that all paychecks arrived to the current address.)

They are sending another copy and I am attempting to find out if the every received the original back. Good idea about calling the old residence. I can dig up the landlord's phone number. Fortunately they live in the lower unit, so I'm hoping they can check.
posted by conigs at 9:57 AM on February 24, 2009