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Ask The Edd Attorney Protect Yourself From Phone Scammers – See The New Irs Youtube Video

by Robert S. Schriebman

IRS phone scammers are aggressive. They are not going away any time soon. You need to protect yourself from bogus IRS calls. In conjunction with this article please see my other articles on protecting yourself from phone scam artists: Article 140 “IRS Warns That Phone Scammers Are Being More Aggressive” and Article 143 “How To Deal With The Phony IRS Call From Hell.”

Phone scams operate nationwide. Many of these scammers are headquartered in foreign countries. Their goal is to obtain your private financial information. They would like nothing better than to have you send them a credit card payment or give them your bank account information so they can electronically clean out your life savings.

The IRS warns that if you receive a call from someone passing themselves off as an IRS representative who promises you results that are too good to be true do not believe them. Things that sound too good to be true are, in fact, too good to be true.

Most people are not aware that the IRS will never contact you by telephone unless and until you have an assigned official IRS auditor or tax collector. Any initial and official IRS contacts are sent to you by mail long before an IRS official is assigned to your account. If you have never heard of the caller at the other end of the phone line you can bet that the caller is a phony. The IRS will not contact you by email.

The IRS is very concerned about people being “fleeced” by tax scammers. In early November 2014 the IRS issued a press release (IR-2414-105) in which it warned the public about common tax scams as well as providing a YouTube video that informs the public that the IRS will never call them by telephone or email demanding money and directing them to telephone numbers the public can call to file complaints against these scammers.

Here are five things the scammers often do but the IRS will not do. Any one of these five things is a tell-tale sign of a scam. The IRS will never:

  1. Call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.
  2. Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.
  3. Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.
  4. Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
  5. Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money, here’s what you should do:

  • If you know you owe taxes or think you might owe, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS workers can help you with a payment issue.
  • If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to believe that you do, report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) at 1.800.366.4484 or at www.tigta.gov .
  • If you’ve been targeted by this scam, also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments of your complaint.

The IRS has a new anti-tax scam video on YouTube

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An EDD attorney, Robert Schriebman has a successful practice in the Rolling Hills Estates area of Los Angeles County serving clients throughout California and the United States.

As a trusted EDD lawyer, Robert S. Schriebman has successfully dedicated more than 40 years to helping individual taxpayers, business owners, CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and tax attorneys navigate the complicated tax systems of the federal and state governments.

Robert Schriebman has written the only 2 books ever published dealing with how California Employment Development Department (EDD) operates. See “California Tax Collection Practice and Procedures” and “California Taxation Practice and Procedure”, both published by Commerce Clearing House.

Robert Schriebman has written over 20 books including the major manual used nationally by practitioners and the IRS, “IRS Tax Collection Procedures – A Manual for Practitioners” published by Commerce Clearing House.

Robert Schriebman has written over 20 books including the major manual used nationally by practitioners and the IRS, “IRS Tax Collection Procedures – A Manual for Practitioners” published by Commerce Clearing House in addition to the only 2 books ever published dealing with how California Employment Development Department (EDD) operates. See “California Tax Collection Practice and Procedures” and “California Taxation Practice and Procedure”, both published by Commerce Clearing House.

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