Real tax preparers understand that it will take a while for their clients to receive their return, and are often prepared to accept credit card or other payments to give clients more flexibility.Īnother warning sign is not receiving a receipt from your services. To start, professional tax preparers rarely require you to pay in cash. But there are a few warning signs that can help you avoid getting tricked. This scam can be difficult to spot because the tax preparer might look and sound legitimate. The taxpayer also thinks that they are going to receive a huge tax return, and they pay the tax preparer a percentage based on that. The tax paperwork is often riddled with errors, and the taxpayer will be blamed for the mistakes because the IRS considers the taxes to have been self-filed. The taxpayer thinks that their taxes have been professionally prepared. Without these two things, to the IRS, the taxes simply look like they were self-filed by the taxpayer. But this process is missing one very important step the signature of the tax preparer and their PTIN. If this sounds like the normal filing process when working with a tax preparer, you’re correct. Then, they tell the taxpayer to send the paperwork to the IRS. They bill the taxpayer, and then send them the paperwork to be signed, or deliver it electronically to be re-signed. They take over the taxpayer’s paperwork and prepare them for filing. They reach out to the taxpayer, by email, and sometimes even under false pretense by having a fake website. One IRS scam that has been tricking taxpayers into paying for services that aren’t what they seem is the so-called “ghost” tax preparer scam.Ī scammer pretends to be a registered tax preparer. Each year, they have to request a new PTIN for that year. In order to file taxes as a tax preparer, professionals need a Preparer Tax Identification Number, or PTIN, valid for the year that the tax return is being filed. They are trained to help taxpayers get the best possible return, while also ensuring that taxes are filed correctly so that fewer problems arise. Registered tax preparers go through hours of classes and study to learn how to help clients properly (and legally!) file their taxes. These scams are incredibly dangerous because it is very difficult to tell which ones are fake and which are real notices from the IRS. Other notices make it look as though the taxpayer simply didn’t pay enough. Sometimes the recipients are those who didn’t have to pay such a fee. Scammers make it look as though this notice is to pay that fee. If a taxpayer doesn’t have health care, they have to pay a penalty related to their taxes. Some are made to look like they are related to the Affordable Care Act. Scammers are sending fake tax bills that look very much like real noticed from the IRS. That may be the reason that some scammers are sticking to snail mail to try and trick people into really believing they are the IRS. Which means that many keen taxpayers quickly spot these scams for what they truly are. The problem with many of these scams is that the IRS rarely calls or emails taxpayers unless they are solicited to do so. Many scammers utilize the internet or smartphones to try to trick taxpayers into making false payments or offering up sensitive personal information.
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