At the recent LBA Breakfast the topic of identity theft came up. LBA Member Sandy Defoe, an Enrolled Agent, strongly recommended going now to the irs.gov website and securing an Identity Protection Pin (IP PIN). Generally these are only available to people who have had past problems with identity theft but because this is a particular problem in Georgia, anyone who files in Georgia can get one and should do it now to avoid being a victim. This is also available to those that file in Florida and DC.
https://www.irs.gov/identity…/get-an-identity-protection-pin

Additionally, LBA Member, Tim Hennington of Legal Shield, advises to activate  fraud alerts rather than a credit freeze with the credit reporting agencies. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0275-place-fraud-alert