People who aren't Uber drivers are getting tax forms for up to $12K in income. How to dispute money that you never made

If you thought opening message during taxation play was stressful, ideate receiving a taxation signifier for a occupation you ne'er worked.

That is precisely what’s happening to galore Americans crossed the country, who accidental they’ve been sent IRS Form 1099s from Uber reporting thousands of dollars successful income they ne'er earned, according to a CBS News probe (1).

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"I conscionable received 1099s for $12,000 from Uber adjacent though I person ne'er driven with them,” work an email that CBS News received aft airing its investigation. An Arizona pistillate who besides saw the study connected tv emailed CBS and wrote, “The aforesaid happening happened to my hubby 2 years ago."

As the probe uncovered, fraudsters look to beryllium utilizing stolen idiosyncratic accusation to unfastened fake Uber operator accounts successful different people’s names. Other times, it whitethorn simply beryllium a lawsuit of mistakenly attributing income to the incorrect taxpayer.

Making matters worse, these types of errors tin beryllium tricky to fix. Several victims told investigators that erstwhile they tried to alert Uber, the institution didn’t respond.

But that doesn’t mean victims should disregard the issue. Unless informed otherwise, the IRS volition presume the reported income is morganatic and expect taxes to beryllium paid connected it, truthful it’s important to quality the mistake quickly.

Here’s what to bash if you person a taxation signifier reporting income you’ve ne'er earned.

Work-related individuality theft appears to beryllium connected the rise. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), astir 31,450 radical reported wage-related individuality theft successful the archetypal 3 quarters of 2025, up 61% from the aforesaid play successful 2021 (2).

Criminals tin usage stolen idiosyncratic information, specified arsenic Social Security numbers oregon driver’s licence details, to make Uber operator accounts, cod net and disappear, leaving the unfortunate to woody with the taxation consequences. And often the archetypal motion that thing is incorrect is simply a taxation signifier arriving successful the mail.

For galore victims, the biggest situation isn’t discovering the fraudulent income — it’s getting idiosyncratic to close it. Some victims told CBS News that erstwhile they contacted Uber, they received nary response.