Tax scams are soaring this year, IRS warns

In the midst of tax season, the IRS warns taxpayers to be on high alert for common scams. According to an IRS official, tax schemes are up 400 percent this year.

Tax agent Jamasa Sattler consults at Helping You Tax & Accounting in Redmond. Sattler said Wednesday this is the calm before the storm of tax season, but she’s already had a couple come in after being hit by a tax scammer.

“The IRS will never call you. That’s just the bottom line,” Sattler said. “They’ll correspond with you via communication.”

We’ve heard this warning before- but this time of year, it’s needed more than ever.

“Threats are, ‘We can take your house, we can tap into your bank account. You can go to jail.’ And people who don’t owe a tax debt are panicking,” Sattler said.

Scammers impersonating IRS agents remain a major threat to taxpayers.

David Tucker, in media relations with the IRS, said a scam now gaining popularity is targeting more than one person at a time.

“Scammers are contacting both human resource and personnel departments of companies,” Tucker said. “They’re claiming to be the CEO of that company and they’re requesting tax or personal information on those employees of the corporation.”

The IRS reports it has seen approximately a 400 percent surge in “phishing” scams during the 2016 tax season. And thanks to spoofing (faking) a caller ID number, calls from an unknown place halfway around the world can look like they’re from your area.

“When they make a phone call. they can use an organization’s actual number or representative. So it appears to be the actual government organization, it can be federal, local level or even state level,” Tucker said.

The IRS has its own page to advise people how to avoid some of the most prevalent scams targeting the agency.