{"id":2810,"date":"2016-03-07T16:20:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T23:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/?p=2810"},"modified":"2016-03-07T16:20:59","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T23:20:59","slug":"avoid-irs-tax-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/taxes\/avoid-irs-tax-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoid IRS and Tax Scams"},"content":{"rendered":"

The IRS is used as a way to scam Americans out of money every year. Some the tax scams are very sophisticated. Others, seem like they would defy common sense. This year, the IRS put out a list of the Dirty Dozen tax scams for people to look out for. Here are some of them.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Promises of Big Refunds<\/strong> – This is where the complexity of the tax code bites the unwary. Yes, there are a lot of deductions, and tax credits out there, and yes, some of them can be pretty unknown, but don’t believe that you’ve been way overpaying your taxes all these years, if only you’d known about a tax loophole. Research and be sure you understand before you sign your name to any weird forms.<\/li>\n
  2. IRS Phone Call Scams\u00a0<\/strong>– Remember, the IRS is legally required to send you notifications of most actions before you get some phone call. Ask them to put it in writing. Also, IRS agents don’t threaten to arrest people out of the blue. Arrest, garnishment, and property forfeiture all require a court proceeding. Real IRS agents won’t tell you that this is your last chance and that you have to send money right away.<\/li>\n
  3. Frivolous Tax Arguments\u00a0<\/strong>– No matter how many websites you read it on, and no matter how much sense it makes to you, the law of the land, and all of the court rulings say that taxes are legitimate and that the amendment and Constitution allow them. In fact, the courts have ruled that not only are taxes legit, but claiming they are not is a “frivolous” action, which means it is automatically dismissed and you are subject to additional penalties and actions for even trying to claim it. It doesn’t matter what you and those internet researchers think. It is settled law.<\/li>\n
  4. Phishing\u00a0<\/strong>– Phishing is when someone calls or emails you looking to get your information so that they can steal your identity or maybe just steal your refund. It usually works when they claim to be from the IRS and then ask you to verify your identity by giving them information such as your date of birth and Social Security Number. That isn’t how it works. Never give someone claiming to be from the IRS, or anyone else, your information in order to verify your identity\u00a0unless you call them.\u00a0<\/em>People get confused because companies will ask those questions when you call them. They won’t ask those questions when they call you. After all, they should already know who you are if they called you right?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"tax<\/a><\/p>\n

    Be careful and don’t make outlandish claims on your taxes, and you should be fine. Do watch your bank accounts and credit reports on a regular basis to make sure there is never any activity you don’t recognize.<\/p>\n

    Be safe, and Happy Filing… er… well, you know what I mean \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The IRS is used as a way to scam Americans out of money every year. Some the tax scams are very sophisticated. Others, seem like they would defy common sense. This year, the IRS put out a list of the Dirty Dozen tax scams for people to look out for. Here are some of them. Promises of Big Refunds – This is where the complexity of the tax code bites the unwary. Yes, there are a lot of deductions, and tax credits out there, and yes, some of them can be pretty unknown, but don’t believe that you’ve been way overpaying your taxes all these years, if only you’d known about a tax loophole. Research and be sure you understand before you sign your name to any weird forms. IRS Phone Call Scams\u00a0– Remember, the IRS is legally required to send you notifications of most actions before you get some phone call. Ask them to put it in writing. Also, IRS agents don’t threaten to arrest people out of the blue. Arrest, garnishment, and property forfeiture all require a court proceeding. Real IRS agents won’t tell you that this is your last chance and that you have to send money … <\/p>\n

    Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[283,306,662,663,515,531,667],"class_list":["post-2810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-taxes","tag-income-taxes","tag-irs","tag-news","tag-personal-finance","tag-tax-deductions","tag-tax-tips","tag-taxes","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financegourmet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}