Aggressive and threatening phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS employees remain a significant problem for the 2016 filing season, the IRS noted in a news release. There has been a surge of phone scams in which criminals threatened taxpayers with arrest, deportation, license revocation and other actions with scammers attempting to trick them into making a payment. The IRS reminded taxpayers to guard against all sorts of scams that often arise during the filing season. The IRS has placed phone scams on its annual roster of “Dirty Dozen” tax scams.
“Taxpayers across the nation face a deluge of these aggressive phone scams. The IRS continues working to warn taxpayers about phone scams and other schemes,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
The IRS reminded taxpayers that it will not call to demand immediate payment, nor will it call about taxes owed without first having mailed taxpayers a bill.
The IRS also will not:
- demand that taxpayers pay taxes without giving them an opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say is owed;
- require taxpayers to use a specific payment method for paying the taxes, such as a prepaid debit card;
- ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone;
- or threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have taxpayers arrested for not paying.
A taxpayer who receives a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money should not give out any information and hang up immediately.