In prior Tips I have mentioned the concern with scams to take advantage of members of the public.
We have seen such scams in various areas, many connected with tax, but not all the schemes are related to tax. Frauds that are related to real estate activities are common in the area of scams. The combination of tax issues and real estate issues creates a setting where there are many illegal tricks undertaken, especially those involving large amounts of money.
This area has been problematic for many years. The IRS has created what they call their Dirty Dozen (IR-2024-302) list of the worst tax scams around. (I have written on these scams for years and we have covered the same in our text, Real Estate Transactions, Tax Planning and Consequences, published by Thomson, Reuters, West. In Chapter 40 of this work, we have highlighted many of these evil plots to take advantage of the public, especially those members of the public that are older and/or disadvantaged by language concerns and other limitations.)
The Dirty Dozen lists 12 key areas each year where the IRS has discovered the worst scams against the public. For more on this issue, see IR-2024-302, which cites the Dirty Dozen list for the year as well as the IRS effort to counter such schemes as outlined in papers presented recently in the National Tax Security Awareness Week Program developed by the IRS.
IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel has stated on this topic of scams:
“We urge people to do some research before falling for these scams. Finding a trusted tax professional or visiting IRS.gov is a better way to research a tax issue than relying on someone talking in their car or their kitchen about a non-existent tax hack.” (See IR-2024-302 release by the IRS.)
The Government has been so concerned with this issue of rip-offs that it recently developed a group of government and private professionals in the tax area to address this concern. The group is known as the Coalition Against Scam and Scheme Threats (CASST). For more on this Coalition, see IR-2024-215, Aug. 16, 2024.
The IRS has commented that many of these scams are presented on social media. The Service stated:
“The IRS is aware of various filing season hashtags and social media topics leading to inaccurate and potentially fraudulent information. A common theme among many of these examples involves people trying to use legitimate tax forms for the wrong reason.” IR-2024-302.
Some of the areas where these swindles have been proffered, as stated by the IRS, include Self Employment Credits, Household Employment Taxes, Fuel Tax Credits, Inflated Income and Withholding, and other frauds around the Dirty Dozen the IRS has outlined.
If such scams are discovered, the IRS has some information where consumers and others can alert the IRS to investigate the same. See for example: the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration or the Internet Crime Complaint Center. See also the Report Phishing and Online Scams page at IRS.gov for details.
By
Dr. Mark Lee Levine, Professor, University of Denver
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