If you think tax practitioners are busy during tax season, imagine how busy tax scammers are, as they roll out a host of schemes to try to trick taxpayers into installing malware, divulging private information, donating money to fake charities and more.
The Internal Revenue Service is always keeping an eye open for these kinds of things to spot new and returning scams, and it recently released its updated list of the “Dirty Dozen” — the 12 tricks fraudsters are most likely to try to perpetrate this year.
The list was released on March 5, which the IRS and its Security Summit partners declared “Slam the Scam Day.”
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
“Today provides a great opportunity to remind everyone to remain vigilant and watch out for scams because thieves continuously adjust the pitches they use to take advantage of honest taxpayers,” said IRS CEO Frank Bisignano, in a statement. “For more than two decades, the IRS has used the Dirty Dozen list to flag emerging scams that taxpayers should watch out for.”
This year’s worst tax scams are listed below. If you or your clients spot them in wild, you can report them online, via email at [email protected] or on the IRS’s new portal, IRS.gov/SubmitATip.
