April 15th is still a few weeks away; and while many people who expected refund checks have already received them, there are still quite a number of people who have not filed their returns yet and will be entitled to a refund. This means that scam artists are still lurking in an attempt to get those checks.
As we have mentioned in prior posts, people on fixed incomes and the elderly rely on income tax refunds, but they are probably most vulnerable to scams. As such, we will highlight the most common scams so that you can be aware of them.
Fake IRS calls – Beware of calls claiming to be from the IRS. Some are warnings that you are about to be sued by the government, others claim that you are about to be arrested. Either way, they are both bogus. The IRS only makes unsolicited contact with taxpayers via certified mail. And when they do, they ask you to call them.
Fake charities – It makes people feel good when they donate to charity; especially one that supports their causes. Unfortunately, there are many new charities created just to avoid the payment of taxes. If you are not sure about a particular charity, check IRS.gov to see if it is legitimate.
Fraudulent tax shelters – If you want to save money in paying taxes like the uber-rich, you are not alone. You may have been approached by someone offering information on tax shelters and how they can save you tens of thousands when it comes to paying taxes. Unfortunately, these shelters may be illegal, and the federal governments has a collecting millions from those hiding money in illegal tax shelters.