An artist’s rendering of a planned San Antonio shopping center has a treat for fans of the “Better Call Saul” television series. It’s also a reminder to be careful when choosing a paid tax preparer. (Image courtesy Dominion Advisory Group) If this past filing season didn't go as you had hoped, you might want to consider hiring a tax professional. A reputable tax pro also could come in handy if some of the tax law changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) are enacted. Unless the Senate makes substantial changes to the massive $3.7 trillion tax and immigration measure... Read more →
Scams
It’s not clear what these two pigs are looking at, but cyber criminals are looking for crypto scam victims for their so-called pig butchering schemes. One company U.S. officials say facilitated such schemes has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. (Image by Herbert from Pixabay) And the U.S. Treasury sanctioned this no-so-little pig butcher all the way home. My liberty with the old nursery rhyme was prompted by the Treasury Department’s announcement on May 29 that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned a Philippines-based company that provides computer infrastructure for hundreds of... Read more →
You filed your tax return on April 15, and today a letter from the Internal Revenue Service showed up in your snail mail box. Don't freak out. While the IRS sends written notices year-round, a lot of the mailings go out after the traditional tax filing season ends. The agency has had time to sort through this year’s final batch of returns and flag those that it thinks need added attention. Again, don’t panic. An official communication from Uncle Sam’s tax collector doesn’t mean the IRS is mounting a full-scale investigation into your tax life. In most cases, the mailings... Read more →
Any small business owner, including this self-employed mechanic, could be a tax scam target. All need to stay alert this Small Business Week and beyond. (Photo by Andrea Piacquadio) Scams are the focus of the Internal Revenue Service on this fourth day of National Small Business Week. The topic, unfortunately, is not new, and isn’t limited to special times of the year. Yes, the IRS has made progress in educating taxpayers about scams, as well as improving the agency’s ability to spot, stop, and in some cases helping prosecute criminal charges against the bad actors. But con artists and scammers... Read more →
Some victims report losing more than $10,000 to more sophisticated tax cons. Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich With Tax Day less than a month away, taxpayers are getting busy. So are the scammers who are hoping that they can intercept some of the money or personal data that filers meant to send to the Internal Revenue Service. Such deceptive activity isn’t anything new. What is different this tax season is that tax crooks are taking advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) to create even more convincing schemes. AI upping tax scammers' games: Sure, some tax crooks on a budget still send out... Read more →
It’s the main tax filing season, so that means it’s also tax scam season. The Internal Revenue Service has been keeping track of the year’s most prevalent schemes for more than two decades and alerting us in its annual list of the 12 scams it has found to be the most egregious over the last year. The Dirty Dozen for 2025 includes some repeat [dis]honorees. A few are new or have been tweaked. But they share one characteristic. They target taxpayers, businesses, and the tax professional community, and all too often end in the loss by victims of personal information,... Read more →
Regular readers of the ol' blog noticed last week that I mentioned tax scams and identity theft in a couple of post last week. If you missed them, they were on added Internal Revenue Service efforts this filing season to detect tax scams and return fraud and about how filing early helps beat tax ID thieves to the stolen refund punch. Well, here’s a third mention. And this time, it’s some good news from the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA). The IRS is making progress in reducing the time it takes to help people who are victims of tax-related identity theft.... Read more →
Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich Beating identity thieves to the punch is one reason to file your tax return as soon as you can. Getting your legitimate Form 1040 to the Internal Revenue Service first will stop crooks who try to file a fake return in your name. But that’s not the only tax fraud increase that the tax agency sees each filing season. So, this year, the IRS and its partners in the Coalition Against Scam and Scheme Threats (CASST) are taking new and additional actions to lessen the threats. The CASST task force, comprised of representatives from federal and... Read more →
Millions are getting ready to file federal tax returns so they can collect refunds. Crooks are among them. And things get even worse for the taxpayers whose identities were stolen and used to file false returns claiming fraudulent refunds. The average time it took the Internal Revenue Service to resolve identity theft cases and issue refunds to the affected victims in fiscal year 2024 was two years, according the National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2024 annual report to Congress, issued today. These delays impacted nearly half a million taxpayers, noted National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA) Erin M. Collins, and were even worse than... Read more →
My phone is blowing up today, with every app suggesting that if I’m stumped for a present or two, considering giving a digital gift card from their establishment. Ditto my email. It’s not a bad idea. But the key here is to make sure that the gift card is real. So, on this Christmas Eve I’m harking back not to herald angels, but to my post earlier this month noting that gift cards are for good boys and girls, not to pay IRS tax bills. Avoid gift card scams: That post looks at how crooks tamper with actual plastic gift... Read more →
This pup is just making sure he got all his presents! (Photo by freestocks.org) In a couple of days, many families will welcome new members. No, I’m not talking about Christmas babies. I’m talking about Christmas fur babies. A puppy, kitten, or other pet of any type or age can be a wonderful addition to a home, as long as everyone is on the same page. Pros and cons of pets as presents: Many animal groups and veterinarians warn against giving a pet, especially as a surprise, during the holidays. The holiday season already is stressful for many. Suddenly having... Read more →
Gift cards make great presents for family and friends. The cards, however, cannot be used to pay taxes during the holiday season or any time. (Gift card wreath via Pinterest) Gift cards are a great last-minute gift or a present for that hard-to-shop-for person in your life. That’s why they are so popular, particularly during the holiday season. The plastic presents also are popular with crooks. They tamper with easily accessible gift cards in store displays, obtain card barcodes and other information, then put them back on the rack. When a card is purchased and activated, the criminals use it... Read more →
Photo by Kaboompics.com It’s Thanksgiving Week! The end-of-year holidays are officially here. So is scam and identity theft season. So it’s no surprise that this time of year, the Internal Revenue Service and its Security Summit partners spend a week focusing on ways taxpayers and tax professionals can protect their and clients’ sensitive financial information from tax scammers. Yes, in addition to trying to steal your identity and cash and holiday cheer, tax crooks are preparing for the upcoming filing season. They can use the information they stole to file fake tax returns claiming fraudulent tax refunds. Almost a decade... Read more →
The modern wooden replica of the Trojan Horse, created in 1975 by the Turkish architect İzzet Senemoğlu, stands today at the ruins of Troy archaeological site in Turkey. (Photo: Turkish Archaeological News) Two Nigerian men, one living in North Dakota and the other in Mexico, have been charge with in connection with a scheme to allegedly steal client information from several Massachusetts tax preparation firms’ computer networks. Federal investigators allege that once the duo got the tax data, they filed fraudulent returns and had the associated false tax refunds deposited in bank accounts the pair controlled. In total, the scheme’s... Read more →
iStock Texas’ unofficial motto has always been go big or go home. Or, in the case of one former tax professional, go out of business. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Nov. 1 entered permanent injunctions against Charles Dombek and The Optimal Financial Group LLC barring both from promoting any tax plan that involves creating or using sham management companies, deducting personal non-deductible expenses as business expenses, or assisting in the creation of “captive” insurance companies. The injunctions also prohibit Dombek from preparing any federal tax returns for anyone other than himself and Optimal from... Read more →
Water & Land Solutions A conservation easement is a way for landowners to retain ownership and use of their property, while also ensuring that the property’s resources are protected for future generations. In many cases, the easements are donated to nonprofit organizations, providing a nice tax break. Conservation easements also are sometimes used to evade taxes. In fact, bogus arrangements are regularly included in the Internal Revenue Service’s annual Dirty Dozen list of tax scams. In addition to warning taxpayers about abusive conservation easements, the IRS also is intent on stopping, and bringing to justice, those who promote these tax... Read more →
Hurricane Milton seen from the International Space Station on Oct. 8 as it approached the Big Bend of Florida. Milton made landfall as a Category 3 near Siesta Key late Oct. 9. (Photo by NASA/Michael Barratt, Public Domain) It’s been a horrific hurricane season. More than 300 people have lost their lives due to storms in the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Millions in the United States alone have lost at least some property. Some have lost everything. Federal officials are offering assistance to hurricane victims, but misinformation has created problems in delivering that help. The Federal Emergency Management... Read more →
Sometimes, shelters don't work out as hoped. That's also the case with tax shelters set up to take, rather than save, your money. (Photo by Min An) Looking for a way to save tax dollars is not a crime. But setting up a bogus tax shelter is. That's what federal investigators accuse a Florida man of doing, along with a few other things, in a grand jury indictment. The document was unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice on Sept. 26 in Gulfport, Mississippi. It charges the Sunshine State financial advisor, securities broker, and insurance salesman (whose name I’m not... Read more →
Photo by Francisco De Legarreta C. on Unsplash Owing a big tax bill is a terrible feeling. The only thing worse is not being able to come up with the money to pay Uncle Sam. The Internal Revenue Service offers some solutions. You can pay over time by setting up an installment plan with the tax agency. Sometimes, even spreading out payments isn’t enough. Dealing with a huge tax bill: If your tax debt is so large that you know you’ll never be able to pay it all, you can turn to an Offer in Compromise, or OIC. By submitting... Read more →
Photo by Katt Yukawa on Unsplash Crowdfunding, a personal way of raising money that’s been supercharged by social media’s reach, has tax implications. Most of us are familiar with charitable crowdfunding. Expect to see a lot more of that in the wake of natural disasters, with solicitations by individuals and groups looking for help for themselves or others. In addition to charitable fundraising, there also are lots of online financial solicitations by and for businesses. Regardless of the crowdfunding reason, the Internal Revenue Service notes that distribution of the funds may be includible in the gross income of the person... Read more →