Tax Scams to Avoid This (and every) Year
Another "Tis the season" season is coming.
This year's tax deadline is Monday, April 18th. Emancipation Day is being celebrated on April 15th, so the IRS pushed the deadline back to the following Monday.
Plenty of time to get your taxes done! And plenty of time to wait...
The IRS released it's annual list of the worst tax scams, because people suck.
This year's worst offenders:
1) Identity Theft
Always a threat, so mind your personal information.
2) Phishing
Phishing is the cowardly act of pretending to be someone (say, the IRS) while requesting sensitive information.
3) Fake Charities
Did I mention that these types are cowards? Pretending to be a charity just to rip people off? Dirtbags. If a charity solicits you for donations, research the charity. Also, make sure that the charity you're researching is spelled correctly. Scammers will name their "charity" similar to a well-known charity, or even just misspell the name in the solicitation.
4) Phone Scams
The old-fashioned tried-and-true. If someone calls claiming to be an IRS agent, inform them that you will call the official IRS number and talk to an agent. Do NOT give any information to the a**hole on the phone, no matter how threatening they may be.
Check out the full "Dirty Dozen" tax scams from IRS.gov for this year's most popular scams, and always be weary of giving out information.