Re: IRS tax scam
Posted by:
Answerer of OP questions
()
Date: January 03, 2018 02:09PM
The letters should have an address where to send the money. Verify that this is a real Internal Revenue address.
Did the letter come with material that explains your rights, including the right to dispute and how to go about it. The law requires IRS to send that literature with every bill. If it's not there, the letter's not real.
Internal Revenue never calls you about a bill. They'll talk to you about it if you call, but they never initiate communication by phone or email. The only communication IRS initiates is by letter, usually certified letter. In fact, what they can do by both phone or email is severely limited, the email more than the phone.
I've gotten non-certified letters when there was a mistake on my 1040. When I owed them money but couldn't pay, the letters almost always were certified. If you get a lawyer, usually they send copies to them and you both, so if you get a lawyer, let him know if you get anything from the IRS.
It sounds to me like a scam. I drive a little bit for SCREWber, but I always report anything to my tax professional. One time, recently, I got an Uber request. I'm going to get the passenger, and the phone rings. It wasn't an 800 number, but I thought it was the passenger calling. Turned out it was a robocall from a scammer. It told me to call this number and send money or I was going to be arrested and thrown in jail by the IRS. I ignored it. I'm still not in jail.
It's very rare the IRS can just show up on your doorstep and arrest you. In most cases, they don't put you in jail at all since it's mostly civil instead of criminal. Usually it's when they can prove you deliberately evaded taxes that they throw you in jail. If it's an honest mistake or it's not millions (like Stewart or Helmsley). If it's only a few thousand dollars, they'd rather get you on a Lifetime Payment Plan (where you owe more after a couple of years than when you started to pay them) and let you go about your business. It costs money to throw someone in jail. They make money when you're allowed to pay them.