BEWARE-Tax Season Scams

It is that time of year again… March Madness! Hopefully your bracket is doing well. On a more serious note, it is tax season, or “busy season” for accounting professionals. And of course, it is a busy season for criminals running IRS tax scams as well. The most common scam being a continuous, aggressive phone call posing as an IRS agent. A more recent scam is stealing your identity and then filing a fraudulent tax return in your name. Resulting in a tax refund being deposited into your bank account. This is then followed up with a phone call, stating the deposit was a mistake and to send the money back.  Of course, the address provided is not to the IRS but is mailing it to the scammer.

Therefore, you must educate yourself.  Listed below are actions the IRS will and will not do when dealing with taxes and returns.  This is directly from the IRS.gov website.

If you owe taxes:
  • The IRS instructs taxpayers to make payments to the “United States Treasury.” The IRS provides specific guidelines on how you can make a tax payment at www.irs.gov/payments


More importantly, what the IRS does not do:
  • Demand immediate payment using a specific method such as a prepaid card, gift card or wire transfer
  • Threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have the taxpayer arrested for not paying.
  • Demand that taxes be paid without giving taxpayers the opportunity to question or appeal the amount owed.
  • Call you about an unexpected refund.

According to Federal Trade Commission, more millennials reported losing money in 2017 to scams than senior citizens. Proving the belief that senior citizens are more vulnerable is false. Everyone can benefit from the information in this post.

Recently, we received a robo-call demanding a call back, otherwise legal action would be taken against us. We hung up immediately. This was obviously a “phishing” call by a scammer.  If in doubt, you can always call the IRS for verification. Their number is 800-829-1040.

Lastly, although more scams happen during the filing season, be aware tax scams can happen any time of year. Please help other by raising awareness on this issue.


Have a great weekend!

Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results.  Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product made reference to directly or indirectly in this article will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), or be suitable for your portfolio.  Moreover, you should not assume that any information or any corresponding discussions serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Griffin Financial Advisors, LLC. The opinions expressed are those of Griffin Financial Advisors, LLC and are subject to change at any time due to the changes in market or economic conditions.

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