DON'T Fall for IRS SCAM & KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

IRS e-Audit Scam Back to News Articles Page

All taxpayers should be aware of a scam designed to illegally obtain personal information. Some taxpayers have received an e-mail from a non-Internal Revenue Service (IRS) source indicating that the taxpayer is under audit and needs to complete a questionnaire within 48 hours to avoid the assessment of penalties and interest. The e-mail refers to an "e-audit" and references the IRS Form 1040. The taxpayer is asked for his/her social security number, bank account numbers and other personal and confidential information.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE IRS DOES NOT CONDUCT E-AUDITS, NOR DOES IT NOTIFY TAXPAYERS OF A PENDING AUDIT VIA E-MAIL. THIS E-MAIL IS CLEARLY NOT FROM THE IRS.

If you receive an e-mail of this nature (the source may have the address: blesstheday.com), DO NOT provide the requested information. Instead, please contact the IRS office in your area, as this may be an identity theft attempt.

This information was provided by the Customs, Treasury office of the U.S. Government.

Taxpayers are urged to visit the IRS Web site for information on other tax crimes/scams:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/display/0,,i1%3D42%26genericId%3D50198,00.html



HOWEVER< IF YOU RECEIVED A NOTICE VIA MAIL USPO:

KNOW that PRIVATE COLLECTION FIRMS ARE USED BUT YOU HAVE RIGHTS:

Now that the program has been launched, and if you know you owe back taxes, you should take care not to be fooled by fake collectors. Here's some of what the firms are permitted to do and not to do:


The private agencies can't claim they have power to take enforcement actions such as filing liens, or making levies or property seizures.


Collection company employees are not permitted to call or write any third party, such as your employer, bank or neighbors, to ask about your financial condition.


Employees are allowed to speak to your spouse, or leave a message on an answering machine, for purposes of trying to contact you by telephone. However, once the collection company knows how to reach you directly, it can't continue contacting third parties.

Most important, the firms still have to comply with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which spells out what debt collectors can and can't do. For example, they can't call you at all hours of the day or night.

If you're going to be contacted by one of these private collection firms, you will get written notice from the IRS first. The name of the company will be included in the letter. The mailing will explain that a taxpayer may request in writing to work with the IRS instead of with the private company. (For a sample of such a letter go to www.irswatch.org.) A second letter will come from the collection firm.

Here's something else that's important to note. When paying a collection agency, the check should be made out to the U.S. Treasury. Do not make it out to an individual or firm.

To make sure these private firms don't abuse the people they're trying to collect from, the IRS has created a special unit to monitor the companies, according to Brady Bennett, IRS director of collections. That unit will monitor telephone communications between collection agency employees and taxpayers, conduct taxpayer satisfaction surveys, audit collection agency records and periodically review agency performance.