Tax scam emails that appear to be from the IRS run the gamut from almost believable to incredibly bad. Thanks to a Forbes article by Tax Girl Kelly Phillips Erb titled: “Phony Emails Purporting To Be From IRS Popping Up Again,” we have two fine examples of email scams that run the good and bad spectrum.
Email scam example #1 – really bad.

A few points mentioned in the article demonstrate how
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Government investigators reported that the Internal Revenue Service has recouped more than $5.5 billion for the voluntary disclosure programs. NPR sites an Associated Press article titled: Tax Cheats Pony Up $5.5 Billion in Amnesty Program highlights a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that shows how through these programs the IRS was able to get people to come forward to report their offshore bank accounts and assets in exchange for reduced
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I wrote a post for the Tax Matters blog post about a recent report that revealed higher IRS audit rates in five major metropolitan areas. The culprits: small businesses attempting to tax dodge. An article by the Los Angeles Times titled “Los Angeles, San Francisco top cities for tax dodgers, study says” cites a new study from the National Taxpayer Advocate that analyzed IRS data of five metropolitan areas: San
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Just ten days until April 15! On the run up to tax day, we do our best to provide tax relief tips for last minute taxpayers. The tax news topics covered this week include: the annual IRS Data Book release, the official release of the 2013 IRS Dirty Dozen List, a little tax relief humor at Uncle Sam’s expense, tips on filing and tax payments.
Tax Help Tips on Filing and
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The IRS just released its Dirty Dozen Tax Scam List for 2013 and introduced a video to remind taxpayers they need to protect themselves from the worst tax scams and schemes out there. While the “usual suspect” scams and schemes have not changed that much from last year, the notification explains how the IRS has stepped up their efforts to handle them, specifically identity theft related tax issues. Below the
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With tropical storm intensity, Florida is currently leading the nation in tax identity fraud cases. A previous Tax Matters blog post cited a recent CNBC article titled “Florida Hit by ‘Tsunami’ of Tax Identity Fraud” that underscores the severity of this major, nationwide tax problem the IRS has been unable to resolve. According to the CNBC article, however, tax identity fraud is more than just a nuisance. It has now
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This week’s tax topics ranged from tax evasion cases to getting tax relief with the IRS Offer in Compromise Program. Here are highlights from the ones covered on the Tax Resolution University Blog:
Tax Evasion

Nancy Armienti, 59, of Elmer, New Jersey, admitted to evading federal income taxes in 2008 on nearly $700,000 in income she took from her former employee of Atlantic County Concrete and Material Company. Armienti created false
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The IRS is one of the most brutal collection agencies on the planet with the authority to aggressively “collect” overdue tax debts by seizing bank accounts and assets. This collection tactic is typically the result of a lack of communication between taxpayer and the IRS – just ask Lindsay Lohan who, as of yesterday, is experiencing her own IRS seizure nightmare.
According to TMZ.com, the IRS was tired of waiting for
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Douglas Schulman, the 47th IRS Commissioner spoke on November 7th before the professional association of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in Washington, DC.  In his speech, he talked about his last five years and where he sees the IRS focusing its attention in the future. The IRS posted former Commissioner Schulman’s prepared remarks that outlined major IRS strategic priorities. On the top of the list is a
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Lately, there have been weekly warnings coming from the IRS that caution taxpayers about tax scams or identity theft schemes. Because of their pervasive nature, I feel it’s important to mention each and every one so that taxpayers can stay alert and avoid becoming victims.

The latest announcement can be found on the IRS’s Problem Alerts Page where the following text is posted:

October 2012
Don’t Fall for Phony IRS Websites
The IRS warns
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Several months ago, I wrote an article explaining some of the challenges facing e-commerce titled “The E-Commerce Conundrum: Taxing Virtual Businesses and Their Investors and the Law.” At that time, e-commerce businesses were feeling pressure from state legislatures to collect and pay state taxes and grappling with the new 1099-K form and reporting rules.
A recent Reuters article Online sellers scrambling to understand new IRS 1099 form reports that the IRS
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The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning taxpayers who filed electronically to keep an eye out for a tax scam that looks like an IRS e-mail but in reality it contains fake links that if clicked on can cause a virus. Here’s the BBB’s report of what this e-mail contains:

An official looking email that appears to come from the IRS with the subject line: your federal tax bank transfer failed.
The
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Taxpayers face the most aggressive IRS in U.S. history, meaning tax cheats could be looking at prison time and substantial penalties.
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Many people think they can get away with it.
They think they can hide income and avoid having to pay income taxes.
It’s just a minor cheat, they think.
Or, they say, everybody cheats on their taxes.
That’s probably what someone like Leonid Shifrin thought.
A 42-year-old loan broker from Aurora, Colo., Shifrin underreported three
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If you have ever received a letter from the IRS, you know the initial reaction all too well; panic and confusion of what to do next. But even after receiving an IRS audit letter doesn’t mean you should to roll over or be pushed around especially if you don’t agree with it. Robert W. Wood’s recent article in Forbes provocatively titled “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Fighting the
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Payroll tax issues are some of the most complicated and serious IRS tax issues business owners face. Payroll taxes are considered a trust tax meaning employers hold them in trust until they are collected from employees and sent to the IRS. Therefore, non-payment of the trust tax is considered a federal crime resulting in some of the toughest IRS penalties including prison; a fact that one North Carolina is now
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