The Internal Revenue Service’s annual “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams seeks to warn taxpayers, businesses and tax professionals to watch out for threats to their tax and financial information.
Ranging from email schemes to misleading tax credits, many items on the list peak during filing season as people prepare their returns. The IRS noted, however, that these scams can occur throughout the year as fraudsters look for ways to steal money, personal information and data.
The list of 12 threats to taxpayers, while not a legal document or a formal listing of agency enforcement priorities, is an education effort designed to raise awareness and protect the public from common tax scams and schemes.
“Scammers are relentless, and they use the guise of tax season to try tricking taxpayers into falling into a variety of traps,” Terry Lemons, IRS communications senior advisor, said in a statement. “These red flags can lead to everything from identity theft to being misled into claiming tax credits for which they’re not entitled.”
See the accompanying gallery for 12 ways that scammers try to defraud taxpayers and tax professionals.
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