104,000 taxpayers have personal info stolen from IRS website

WASHINGTON — More than 100,000 taxpayers have had their personal tax information stolen from an IRS website as part of an elaborate scheme to claim fraudulent tax refunds.

The information was stolen from an online system called “Get Transcript,” where taxpayers can get tax returns and other tax filings from previous years. In order to access the information, the thieves cleared a security screen that required knowledge about the taxpayer, including Social Security number, date of birth, tax filing status and street address, the IRS said Tuesday.

“We’re confident that these are not amateurs,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “These actually are…