Common ploys by which thieves con taxpayers out of their tax refunds figured among this year’s second installment Monday of the IRS’s “Dirty Dozen” warnings.
IRS News Release (IR-2022-117) follows last week’s first installment, which highlighted four purported tax-saving schemes offered by promoters who misrepresent tax laws but that could result in taxpayers’ being denied the claimed benefits.
Monday’s release, by contrast, echoed warnings in previous Dirty Dozen lists and throughout the year, as the IRS highlighted risks that include tax identity theft and consequent larceny of tax benefits. These hazards can arise from within social media, emails, texts, and telephone calls, the IRS said. Generally, such scams have proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS said.
“Caution and awareness are our best lines of defense against these criminals” who steal tax refunds, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig was quoted as saying. Rettig also urged taxpayers to check out any gambits they might receive or come across by doing their own research on irs.gov.
Economic impact payment and tax refund scams
The IRS noted that it has issued all authorized economic impact payments, also known as stimulus payments, and that most eligible taxpayers have already received them. Taxpayers who were eligible for one and did not receive it could claim a rebate recovery credit on their 2020 or 2021 federal income tax return.
Some telltale signs of an economic impact payment scam include…
