IRS Annual Dirty Dozen Tax Scams Released for 2014

Each year the IRS releases a list of tax scams for investor protection around this time of the year. NOT to be confused with our own experienced most popular tax mistakes,  which can be found here.

IRS Dirty Dozen Tax Scams

Here are the 2014 winners from our friends at the IRS:

1. Identity Theft (We argue this is a year round issue this day and age)
2. Telephone Scam (Scammers fake as IRS agents to gain information)
3. Phishing (Fake email to gain information access)
4. Free Money from Inflated Returns (If it sounds too good to be ….)
5. Return Preparer Fraud (Make sure your CPA IS a CPA .. Here is an IRS fact sheet for choosing a preparer)
6. Hiding Income Offshore (AGAIN .. If it sounds too good …)
7. Charitable Organization Impersonations (REALLY…now this is low! Make sure you check out less common entities for truth)
8. False Income, Expenses or Exemptions (Careful there now)
9. Frivolous Arguments (We will owe taxes!)
10. Falsely Claiming No Income (The IRS has computers too!0
11. Abusive Tax Structures (No matter how you slice it, if you had income you owe taxes)
12. Misuse of Trusts (We regularly run into this in the trenches and plan on expanding soon via several articles…often times a trust can CREATE EVEN MORE taxes if not careful, rarely does it reduce)

Have a Great Monday ! Remember if it sounds too good to be true….it usually is!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Releases-the-%E2%80%9CDirty-Dozen%E2%80%9D-Tax-Scams-for-2014;-Identity-Theft,-Phone-Scams-Lead-List