We have just completed the
holiday season and now we can look forward to filing our income taxes. And
between now and April 15th, numerous governmental agencies will warn
us about scams related to our taxes. Some of the scams you may have heard
about, others may be new. Being aware of the frauds that scammers are trying to
push on you will help you to hand up the phone, or delete an unwanted email to
avoid becoming victimized.
The U.S. Treasury Inspector
General for Tax Administration recently estimated that tax scam victims have
paid more than $50 million to scammers posing as IRS agents since October 2013.
That is an average of $5,200 per incident.
5 scams related to tax time
include:
·
IRS Scam.
This scam has received a lot of publicity in recent years. And it continues to
be a major scam. The key to this scam is to scare you to act and act quickly. Remember,
the IRS will not call you out of the blue and demand that you pay them with an
iTunes card or something similar right away. If you get a call like this, hang
up.
·
“Federal
Student Tax.” You may receive a call demanding payment for a “federal
student tax.” There is no such tax. However, the IRS says that fraudsters are
hounding students and their parents to pay. It also reports that some fraudsters
are threatening to report students to police if they do not pay. Hang up if you
get this call.
·
Fake
Notices Related to the Affordable Care Act. Scammers may send you a fake
notice that you owe money in relation to the Affordable Care Act. Often this is
in the form of a CP2000 notice. Real CP2000 notices from the IRS are not bills,
but are notices about failure to report income, payments or credits, or an
overstatement of deductions. For more information about the CP2000 go to https://www.irs.gov/individuals/understanding-your-cp2000-notice.
·
Verifying
tax return information over the phone. Sometimes a scammer will call you,
claiming to be from the IRS, and ask to verify your information on your tax
return (Social Security Number, etc.). The IRS will not call you to verify your
tax return information. This is another opportunity to hang up on a scammer.
·
Pretending
to be a tax preparer. Scammers may send you an email pretending to be from
the IRS, a tax preparer or tax software company. This is an attempt at phishing
to either install malware on your computer or collect your personal information
for ID theft. Also, when finding a tax preparer, be sure to check yours out so
that you know they will not take your personal information for ID theft or sell
that information to others.
If you become a victim of a tax
related scam, do the following:
·
Report it to the IRS at the IRS Impersonation
Scam Reporting page, https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml,
or call the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, (800)
366-4484.
·
File an online complaint with the Federal Trade Commission,
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#&panel1-1.
·
Call the IRS at (800) 829-1040.
CNBC:
Identity Theft Resource Center:
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