New Fraudulent Scheme is Tricking Taxpayers
Published on by Beth Germann in Firm News, Tax Services
Although the IRS has been long aware of fraudsters using email and social media to seek out personal information, the IRS has received reports of a new successful scheme against taxpayers.
In order to combat against scams and fraudulent notices, the most predominate way the IRS communicates with taxpayers is through paper mail. What makes this new scam concerning, is that the fraudulent versions sent to taxpayers are being mistaken for actual notices regarding payment requests related to the Affordable Care Act. These letters may seem reasonable due to the fact that they contain actual letter numbers and legitimate taxes, but taxpayers should still be precautions and question the letter’s authenticity.
If you receive a letter or notice from the IRS, you can verify the letter by going to the IRS home page (https://www.irs.gov/) and searching for the letter or form letter. This will help identify whether the letter is authentic or not. A legitimate letter will also contain details from the IRS on how to understand the correspondence and methods to respond with whether you agree or disagree with the statements on the letter. You should report anything that is or appears to be fraudulent to the IRS so the incident can be examined.
Taxpayers should always be aware of unsolicited contact from the IRS.
- The IRS never requests personal information via email. Any email correspondence, including attachments, should be avoided, unopened, and reported to the IRS.
- The IRS will rarely initiate contact you by phone. If you are contacted by phone, you should record the employee name, badge number and call back number and independently verify before discussing any issues.
The scammers can seem very intimidating. If you are ever unsure or uncomfortable, hang up! Don’t respond and contact the IRS directly via their website or known phone number.
If you have questions regarding fraudulent tax notices, please contact a member of the Barnes Dennig tax team by calling 513.241.8313 or by filling out this contact form.
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