Q: Someone filed taxes with my social security number, I contacted the authorities! Now how long for me to receive my tax money?

A: I’m sorry to hear about someone stealing your social security number and using it to file taxes.

Unfortunately, it may take a while — probably at least several weeks, if not a couple of months – for your social security mess to be cleared up with the IRS. The IRS says it generally takes 6 to 8 weeks to get a refund under these circumstances.

It’s good that you’ve contacted the authorities, but I just wanted to make sure that you knew EVERYTHING that you should do. Read these articles I’ve written about the subject to safeguard yourself and ensure that you’ve covered all your bases. The first article explains what you should do if someone steals your social security number to file taxes.

The second article focuses on protecting your child from identity theft, but even adults can and should take the same steps I recommend in that article.

Finally, to speed things up in terms of you getting your tax refund, you should know that early in January 2012, the IRS announced a new program to help tax ID theft victims, by giving them a new “IP PIN.”

According to the IRS, “A six-digit Identity Protection Personal Identification Number, or IP PIN, is provided to those victims of tax-related identity theft who have had their identities verified by IRS to avoid delays in processing their federal returns. A taxpayer who receives IRS Letter 4869CS, providing them with an IP PIN, must follow the instructions provided when preparing the return. The fax number for the Identity Protection Specialized Unit, which is published on IRS.gov and on the Form 14039, changed on Dec 12 to: (978) 684-4542.”