Have you recently received a telephone call from a person claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service? If you have not, you are one of the few.  Many taxpayers are receiving threatening phone calls by a criminal impersonating an IRS agent.  These phone calls threaten you with police arrest, deportation, license revocation, closing of your business, and many other things.  We want to encourage you to hang up on these con-artists immediately!

The IRS wants to reiterate that they typically do not call the taxpayer.  The majority of the time the IRS will contact you with a notice through the mail.

Many times a person is caught off guard; especially when they are threatened with being arrested or court action.  Another scheme may say you are entitled to a huge refund.  Either way don’t believe it!

The IRS does not call to demand immediate payment without first having mailed you a bill.  They also have an appeal process.  They never require you to use a specific payment method such as a prepaid debit card.  A revenue agent will never ask for a credit or debit card number over the phone.

So how do you protect yourself from these phone calls?

If you do not owe any taxes, hang up immediately

Contact TIGTA to report the call.  You can also 800-366-4484.  You can also type in “IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting”

Also report to the Federal Trade Commission.  Website is FTC.gov and ensure you add “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.

If you think you owe or know you owe then contact the IRS at 800-829-1040 and speak directly with an IRS agent.  They are there to assist you and ask the right questions.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact one of our accountants here at Wamhoff; we are here to help as well.

Together we can stop these thieves!