IRS Phone (and other) scams

It’s the height of tax season and that means my posts are fewer.  I’m enjoying working with all my new clients and all my regulars too!  That said, this is also the height of “tax scam” season.  These scammers will do their best to scare you into giving them information that you should not give them.  Recently even I was contact by a scammer who left several messages on my home phone.  According to both my professional observations and the IRS, these scams have recently increased in both frequency and sophistication.

“The reason of this call is to inform you that IRS is filing lawsuit against you.  To get more information about this case file, please call immediately on our department number ….. Thank you.”

Bad grammar aside, I feel it’s important for me to say that the IRS will never contact you this way.  The IRS will not contact you via phone and simply let you know you’re being sued.  There are policies and procedures that the IRS must follow in order to bring any action against you and you will be notified.  If you’re the subject of one of these bogus scams, the IRS recommends that you gather the name and IRS badge number of the person calling you, hang up, and call them back at 1-800-366-4484 to verify.

Of course, phone scams aren’t the only attempted scams and some are quite convincing.  I encourage you to read through the following links to familiarize yourself with both the methods these scammers employ and the actions you can take to responsibly verify and report them to the IRS.

• Overview
• Various types of scams
• Reporting scams (scroll to the bottom of the page)

Of course if you are the subject of IRS levies or litigation I am fully qualified and experienced in helping people in your situation.  I encourage you to contact me so we can get to work on solving the problem and getting you back on track!