Tax season alert: The most common scams which you need to know and avoid

Even if the IRS hasn’t announced the final date of filing taxes for 2018 but it is likely that the announcement will be made in December, 2017. With the tax season coming closer, all the business will again go through the chaos of filing accurate and timely tax return, if they have ignored it throughout the year but for those businesses, who have prepared themselves for this season with proper accounting, record and balance, even this tax season will prove to be a pie for them.

But whether you have prepared for the tax season or going to do it on the deadline, one issue which most of the businesses face during this time, are scams.The tax season opens the wide door of opportunities for criminals and during this cumbersome process of tax filing, scams become a nightmare for businesses. That’s why in this article of our tax season alert, we will be looking at the most common scams which all the businesses should know and avoid, so that they can go through the tax filing process without falling in the traps of scammers.

Phishing

Fake emails are the most common ways of phishing in which the sender seems to be like an authorized employee of a reputed organization and through their fake emails, they try to trick you into providing your details of credit card and other sensitive information. They can provide a link in their email which will take you to a website, where you have to give your card details and other personal information. Most of these emails ask you for a quick response but you should know that no government company or private company will ask you for such information through email and that too on an urgent basis. So be aware of such fake emails and mark them as spam without opening any link attached in the mail or providing any details.

Scams through call

Criminals can also contact you through calls and can threaten you for legal action, pending payment or license revocation, while pretending to be a genuine IRS collection officer, agent or genuine tax authority. But you should know that any IRS officer or tax authority will not ask you for immediate payment, threaten you for legal action or ask your credit and debit card details, over the phone. So avoid such calls and if possible, log a complaint against such phone numbers, so that they can be stopped from pushing someone else in their trap of scam.

Fraudulent charities

There is a no doubt in charity being an important tool for tax deduction but even for scammers, these tools of tax deduction play an important role in scams. Such scammers can setup fake charities which can lead to theft of your identity, card details and money. You should watch for scammers who provide name of charities which have almost matching name like authorized charities.

Stealing your identity

A well-informed person is the less likely victim of a fraud or scam, that’s why you should not only be aware about the IRS guidelines and instructions, but you should also know the above mentioned scams and be aware about it.