This tax season, you may remember Consumerist reminding you to file as early as possible, especially if you were expecting a refund or receiving certain tax credits aimed at lower-income Americans. New anti-fraud measures taken by the Internal Revenue Service and better awareness of the problem have apparently helped: The IRS reports that tax refund fraud has decreased. [More]
tax scams
If You’re Relying On Your Tax Refund, IRS Warns It May Come Late This Year
By 1.10.17
There are just a few weeks left until tax preparation season kicks off, and today the Internal Revenue Service had some bad news for families that receive the earned income tax credit or the additional child tax credit: they will not receive their tax refunds until the end of February. [More]
IRS Officials, Congress Agree That Agency Needs Better Anti-Fraud Measures
By 6.2.15
Congress was understandably alarmed at the news that cyberbaddies, believed to be criminals based in Russia, were able to gain access to previous years’ return data for 104,000 U.S. taxpayers. The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing today, where the Inspector General of the IRS explained that the agency simply isn’t keeping up with the criminals who want its data. [More]
IRS Suspects Russian Identity Thieves In Data Breach
By 5.27.15
You may remember that the Internal Revenue Service announced late yesterday that about 100,000 taxpayers’ personal information was breached when thieves armed with their personal information were able to log in to the IRS transcript system and extract even more sensitive information about their victims. Today, we learned that the IRS suspects that an organized group of hackers out of Russia are responsible for the 200,000 attempts to extract taxpayer data. [More]
IRS Impersonation Scam Is Largest In History, Cost Consumers $15.5M
By 3.12.15
The 2015 tax season has been fraught with complications, from the fraudulent use of tax returns to the “dirty dozen” scams meant to tear consumers away from their money. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing exploring ways in which consumers could better be protected from such hustles, federal investigators divulged more information about one of the most prevalent tax-time scams in recent years, saying it has now targeted 366,000 taxpayers to the tune of $15.5 million. [More]
IRS Issues List Of “Dirty Dozen” Scams Taxpayers Should Be On The Lookout For This Year
By 2.12.15
Each tax season fraudsters manage to separate taxpayers from billions of dollars by using aggressive schemes such as impersonating Internal Revenue Service agents or employing emails and websites designed to gather consumers’ personal information for fraudulent use. This year, the IRS has issued a list of the “Dirty Dozen” scams consumers should guard against. [More]
IRS Says Thousands Have Been Scammed Into Paying Bogus Back Taxes
By 1.23.15
Let’s be honest for a moment and acknowledge that not everyone is 100% honest or accurate when filing their tax returns. There are lots of people out there who wouldn’t be shocked to hear from the IRS that they owe more or didn’t pay enough, which is why thousands of Americans have been scammed out of millions of dollars by con artists pretending to represent the IRS. [More]
Beware Of Identity Thieves Filing Fraudulent Tax Returns To Steal Your Refund
By 2.23.12
So you finally drag yourself to your desk/computer/accountant and get your taxes done. Good job. Now wouldn’t it just totally stink if you found out someone had already filed a tax return using your information, and that they’d snagged whatever refund you had coming to you? Yes, it would, which is why the Internal Revenue Service is warning people of just such a scam. [More]
