Employee Retention Credit claims

Taxpayers should be aware of aggressive pitches from scammers who promote large refunds related to the Employee Retention Credit (ERC). ​The warning follows blatant attempts by promoters to con ineligible people to claim the credit...
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Fake charities

Bogus charities are a perennial problem that gets bigger whenever a crisis or natural disaster strikes. Scammers set up these fake organizations to take advantage of the public's generosity. They seek money and personal information, which can be used to further exploit victims through identity theft...
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Spearphishing and cybersecurity

Phishing is a term given to emails or text messages designed to get users to provide personal information. Spearphishing is a tailored phishing attempt to a specific organization or business.
The IRS is warning tax professionals about spearphishing because there is greater potential for harm if...
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Bogus tax avoidance strategies

  • Micro-captive insurance arrangements: A micro-captive is an insurance company whose owners elect to be taxed on the captive's...
  • Syndicated conservation easements: A conservation easement is a restriction on the use of real property. Generally, taxpayers may...
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Phishing and smishing​

Taxpayers and tax professionals should be alert to fake communications from those posing as legitimate organizations in the tax and financial community, including the IRS and the states. These messages arrive in the form of an unsolicited text (smishing) or email (phishing)...​

Unscrupulous tax return preparers

Most tax preparers provide outstanding and professional service. However, people should be careful of shady tax professionals and watch for common warning signs, including charging a fee based on the size of the refund. A major red flag or bad sign is when the tax preparer is unwilling...
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Offer in Compromise mills

Offers in Compromise are an important program to help people who can't pay to settle their federal tax debts. But "mills" can aggressively promote Offers in Compromise in misleading ways to people who clearly don't meet the qualifications, frequently costing taxpayers thousands of dollars. A taxpayer can...
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Schemes with international elements

Offshore accounts and digital assets: The IRS continues to scrutinize...
Maltese individual retirement arrangements misusing treaty: These arrangements involve U.S. citizens...
Puerto Rican and foreign captive insurance: U.S. business owners...

Online IRS account help

Swindlers pose as a "helpful" third party and offer to help create a taxpayer's IRS Online Account at IRS.gov. In reality, no help is needed. The online account provides taxpayers with valuable tax information. But third parties making these offers will try to steal...

Social media: Bad advice

Social media can circulate inaccurate or misleading tax information, and the IRS has recently seen several examples. These can involve common tax documents like Form W-2 or more obscure ones like Form 8944. While Form 8944 is real, it is intended for a very limited, specialized group. Both schemes encourage people...

Schemes aimed at high-income

  • Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust (CRAT): Charitable Remainder Trusts are irrevocable trusts that let individuals donate assets to charity and draw annual income for life...
  • Monetized Installment Sales: In these potentially abusive transactions, promoters find taxpayers seeking...
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False Fuel Tax Credit claims

The fuel tax credit is meant for off-highway business and farming use and, as such, is not available to most taxpayers. However, unscrupulous tax return preparers and promoters are enticing taxpayers to inflate their refunds by erroneously claiming the credit. The IRS has seen an increase in the promotion of filing certain refundable...