IRS Releases List of Top Tax Scams for 2008
The IRS today released its list of the top "dirty dozen" tax scams, which affect businesses large and small.
This year's list of the most egregious tax schemes is topped by Internet phishing, which is an online ploy to trick consumers into revealing their personal financial information. The agency reiterated that it never uses e-mail to contact taxpayers about their tax issues.
Scammers are crafting ways to hoodwink individuals into revealing personal financial information that can be used to access their financial accounts by making promises related to the economic stimulus payment. Some criminals are posing as IRS representatives to trick taxpayers into revealing their personal info by falsely telling them they must provide information to get a payment, according to the IRS. However, most individuals eligible for the rebate will not have to do anything more than file a 2007 tax return to receive it.
Other scams included in the IRS list for 2008 include scams relating to fuel tax credits, hiding income offshore, abusive retirement plans and return preparer fraud.
The full list for 2008 isn't available yet on the IRS Web site, but I will link to it as soon as it's available. However, the agency offers general information on how to detect and avoid tax scams.
By Sharon McLoone |
March 13, 2008; 3:47 PM ET
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