Beware Of IRS Imitators

 The busy tax season is underway and that means besides hard working accountants and bookkeepers, criminals are working hard to steal your money. That’s right, this time of year  tax scams are popping up everywhere, so don’t get taken. Here are some things to be on the lookout for: PHISHING SCAMS – IRS e-mails that demand payment via a pre-paid debit card or by wire transfer or those that lure victims to give up their personal information to be used in ID theft is called phishing. If you get an e-mail like this, DO NOT reply to the message, forward the e-mail to phishing@irs.gov, then delete the original message.

SUSPICIOUS  IRS  E-MAILS – If you get an email from the IRS asking for your personal or financial information, it’s probably a hoax. The IRS says it doesn’t initiate contact via e-mails and IRS employees would never ask for personal or financial information via e-mail. Do not open any attachments or click on any links. These could contain a virus and could infect your computer

IRS PHONE CALLS – The IRS doesn’t initiate contact via e-mail, telephone, text, or social media so you should never receive any of these initially from the agency. Your first contact from the IRS would be via a letter. If you are in contact with the agency, try to set up fixed appointment dates and times. If you get an unexpected call and you feel it’s suspicious, ask for a call back number and an employee badge number, then call 800.366.4484 to report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General’s office

FAKE IRS WEBSITES – Scam artists are so good these days they have come up with a number of websites that look official. However, the IRS’ only official website is www.irs.gov.  Avoid any websites that claim to be the IRS that end in .com or .net.

For more information about the latest scams involving the IRS, check out  www.irs.gov. The IRS also has You Tube videos and a number of pod casts about  identity theft and what you can do if you become a victim. Hopefully this season you can take my advice to avoid becoming the victim of a hoax.

Need help? Give us a call.

Oh one last piece of advice, get your corporate taxes in by March 17^th and your personal taxes in by April 15^th. If you need help getting your books in order to get your taxes filed, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re the real deal, no imitators here.

Have a great week!