Tax Tip Tuesday: Tax Scam

For 8 weeks now we have been giving tips on how to go about paying your taxes and in tonight’s final edition… Brian Watson, a special agent with the IRS gives us details on how to catch those dreaded tax scams.

First off, the IRS will never call you, if you get a phone call from someone that says they are from the IRS or an email, it’s a scam. Bill Watson explains.

“We have a huge scam that is been going on since October of 2013 and millions of dollars have been lost across the country. It’s basically a high pressure phone scam, where people claim to be employees of the IRS and they get people to basically wire money to an account or they tell people to go to a local store and buy a pre-paid card,” said Watson.

When preparing your taxes, it’s extremely important to make sure your tax preparer is reliable. About 60 percent of people in the U.S. use a paid tax preparer and while the vast majority is trustworthy, the IRS does see a small percentage of those that are dishonest. Watson tells us a couple of thing to look out for.

“A couple of the red flags that we see, the first one is, any return preparer who claims that they can get you a huge refund and they haven’t even seen your tax situation. Then, the second red flag is any tax return preparer who bases his or her fee on a percentage of your refund,” said Watson.

Watson also adds that irs.gov offers a whole section on paid tax preparers where you can go and run a person’s name threw the system. The main thing to know is that with the IRS, they will never call or email you. They will always send a letter. To report any suspicious calls or emails, you can email the IRS at phishing@irs.gov. If you haven’t filed your taxes yet and you know that you need an extension, go to irs.gov and click the free file. You have until midnight of 4/18/17.