It’s nice to save money at tax time, but watch out your preparer isn’t leading you into a scam, like these on the IRS top twelve to watch out for this year:

“1. Telephone Excise Tax Refund Abuses: Early filings show some individual taxpayers have requested large and apparently improper amounts for the special telephone tax refund.

12. Frivolous Arguments: Promoters have been known to make the following outlandish claims: the Sixteenth Amendment concerning congressional power to lay and collect income taxes was never ratified; wages are not income; filing a return and paying taxes are merely voluntary; and being required to file Form 1040 violates the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination or the Fourth Amendment right to privacy….

We had an accountant recently tells us we needed to report our home office as larger than it really was… also they wanted us to look over our girlfriend’s credit card statement and see if we could “find” any deductible items she “bought for us” that we later “paid her back for…” Needless to say we found a new accountant. — BEN POPKEN

IRS Announces “Dirty Dozen” Tax Scams for 2006 [IRS.gov via Consumer Affairs]

[Photo: judgmentalist]

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