{"id":6302,"date":"2021-11-29T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/?p=6302"},"modified":"2021-11-15T17:54:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T22:54:11","slug":"common-tax-scams-and-tips-to-help-taxpayers-avoid-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/?p=6302","title":{"rendered":"Common tax scams and tips to help taxpayers avoid them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In recent years, tax schemes and scams have been on the rise. Con artists work year-round which means taxpayers must remain vigilant to avoid being victimized. Here are some tips to help people recognize and avoid some of the most common tax-related scams<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email phishing scams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. Generally, the IRS first mails a paper bill to the person who owes taxes. In some special situations, the IRS will call or come to a home or business<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taxpayers should report IRS, Treasury or tax-related suspicious phishing scams by saving the email and then sending that file as an attachment to phishing@irs.gov<\/a>. They should not open any attachments, click on any links, reply to the sender, or take any other actions that could put them at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phone scams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IRS generally first mails a bill to the taxpayer who owes taxes. There are specific ways to pay taxes<\/a>. The agency and its authorized private collection agencies<\/a> will not:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Leave pre-recorded, urgent, or threatening messages on an answering system.
\u2022 Threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law enforcement groups to arrest the taxpayer for not paying, deport them or revoke their licenses.
\u2022 Call to demand immediate payment with a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer.
\u2022 Ask for checks to third parties.
\u2022 Demand payment without giving the taxpayer an opportunity to question or appeal the amount owed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criminals can fake or spoof caller ID numbers to appear to be anywhere in the country. Scammers can even spoof an IRS office phone number or the numbers of various local, state, federal or tribal government agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a taxpayer receives an IRS or Treasury-related phone call, but doesn’t owe taxes and has no reason to think they do, they should:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Courtesy of the Internal Revenue Service<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Not give out any information. Hang up immediately<\/strong>.
\u2022 Contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration<\/a> to report the IRS impersonation scam call.
\u2022 Report the caller ID and callback number to the IRS by sending it to phishing@irs.gov<\/a>. The subject line should include “IRS Phone Scam.”
\u2022 Report the call to the Federal Trade Commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a taxpayer wants to verify what taxes they owe the IRS, they should:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022\u00a0View tax account information online<\/a> at IRS.gov.
\u2022\u00a0Review their payment options<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Need tax assistance? Call us at 816-524-4949 or visit our website <\/a>to schedule a consultation.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recent years, tax schemes and scams have been on the rise. Con artists work year-round which means taxpayers must remain vigilant to avoid being victimized. Here are some tips to help people recognize and avoid some of the most … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-taxation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6303,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302\/revisions\/6303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoorfarlaw.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}