How to Fill Out and Submit Form 14039: Sections, Filing, and Next Steps

To fill out IRS Form 14039, the Identity Theft Affidavit, check the boxes in Sections A and B that describe who you are filing for and how the fraud affected you, write a specific account of what happened, add your contact and tax information, sign under penalty of perjury, and submit online, by mail, or by fax. The current version is Rev. 2-2026, and the IRS treats online filing as the preferred channel.

First, Confirm This Is the Right Form

Form 14039 is only for tax-related identity theft. File it if your e-filed return was rejected because someone already filed under your Social Security number, you received an IRS notice about a return or income that isn’t yours, a W-2 showed up from an employer you never worked for, someone else claimed your dependent, or a tax software provider told you an account was opened in your name.¹²

Skip it in a few situations. If a parent or guardian misused a dependent’s information to file, the IRS does not treat that as identity theft for Form 14039 purposes. If your problem doesn’t match one of the three scenarios on the form (fraudulent return, dependent claimed, SSN used for a job), report the theft to the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov and consider requesting an IP PIN instead.³ And don’t send a second affidavit for the same incident — duplicates slow the case down.

Before filing over a claimed dependent, double-check that the dependent’s SSN on your return is correct and that the dependent didn’t file their own return.¹

Filling Out the Six Sections

You can complete the fillable PDF from IRS.gov or work through the online submission portal. Either way, the form asks the same questions in the same order.

Section A: Who You’re Filing For

Check every box that applies:³

Box 1 if you’re filing for yourself.
Box 2 if you’re responding to a specific IRS notice or letter. Write the notice or letter number on the line provided. This box changes where you send the form.
Box 3 if you’re filing on behalf of your dependent child or dependent relative.
Box 4 if you’re filing on behalf of someone else, living or deceased, who isn’t your dependent.

More than one box can apply. Filing for yourself in response to an IRS letter, for example, is both Box 1 and Box 2.

Section B: How the Fraud Affected You

Pick the checkbox that matches the type of fraud:

Box 1 if someone used your information to file a fraudulent federal tax return. A sub-checkbox lets you indicate that your spouse is also a victim.
Box 2 if you or your dependent was fraudulently claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return.
Box 3 if your SSN or ITIN was used for employment.

Below the boxes, the explanation field asks you to describe what happened in your own words. Be specific about dates and what tipped you off. “My 2025 return was rejected on April 3, 2026, because someone had already filed using my SSN” gives the IRS something to work with; “I think someone stole my identity” does not.³

Section C: Your Contact Information

Enter your full legal name, SSN or ITIN, current mailing address, the address on your last filed return if it’s different, phone numbers, the best times to reach you, and your preferred language for IRS communication. A caseworker may call, so keep these accurate.³

Section D: Tax Account Information

Give the name on your last filed return, the year of that return, and the tax year or years you believe were affected. If you don’t know which years were hit, write “Unknown.” A checkbox on this section covers taxpayers who weren’t required to file or filed with no income information — check it if that describes you.³

Section E: Signature

Sign and date the form. You’re signing under penalty of perjury, so the account in Section B needs to be truthful. If someone else is signing for the victim, their details go in Section F.

Section F: Representative Information

Fill this out only if you’re filing on behalf of another person (Box 3 or Box 4 in Section A). It asks for your relationship to the victim, your name, mailing address, phone number, and your Centralized Authorization File (CAF) number if you have one.

How to Send It In

Pick one channel. The instructions say to submit through a single method, not to send the same form multiple ways.

Online

The IRS’s preferred route is its portal at irs.gov/dmaf/form/f14039.³ You can also go through IdentityTheft.gov, which walks you through a series of questions, builds the Form 14039 from your answers, lets you review it, and transmits it to the IRS.⁴

By Mail

Where you mail it depends on your situation:

Responding to an IRS notice or letter (Box 2 in Section A): send Form 14039 and a copy of the notice to the address printed on that notice.
Your e-file was rejected because of a fraudulent return (Box 1 or 2 in Section B): attach Form 14039 to the back of your completed paper return and mail both to the IRS filing address for your state.
Anything else: mail to Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Fresno, CA 93725.³

Use certified mail or another trackable service. The form has your SSN and signature on it. Keep a complete copy of everything you send.

By Fax

Fax the completed form toll-free to 855-807-5720 and keep the confirmation page as proof of delivery.³ If you’re responding to a notice that lists a different fax number, use the one on the notice.

What Happens After You File

Your case goes to the IRS’s Identity Theft Victim Assistance (IDTVA) unit. The general target for resolution is 120 days, though the IRS has said backlogs pushed average resolution well past that in recent years, at times over 600 days.⁵ Plan for several months at minimum.

While the case is open, IDTVA works through the fraudulent filings, corrects your account, and removes tax assessments or balance-due notices tied to income you didn’t earn. A legitimate refund held up by the fraud should be released once the case closes.

When the IRS finishes, it places an identity theft indicator on your account so future returns filed under your SSN get extra scrutiny, and it enrolls you in the Identity Protection PIN program.⁵ You’ll get a new six-digit IP PIN by mail each January in a CP01A notice, and you must include it on every federal return you file, current-year or delinquent. Without the correct PIN, the return is rejected — which is the point. If the notice doesn’t arrive or you lose the PIN, retrieve it at IRS.gov/ippin.⁶

1
Internal Revenue Service. When to File an Identity Theft Affidavit
2
Internal Revenue Service. Employment-Related Identity Theft
3
Internal Revenue Service. Identity Theft Affidavit
4
Federal Trade Commission. Report Tax Identity Theft With IdentityTheft.gov
5
Internal Revenue Service. How IRS ID Theft Victim Assistance Works
6
Internal Revenue Service. Get an Identity Protection PIN