IRS again warns of phone scams as filing season opens

The department says aggressive, threatening calls are coming from phone scammers.

10,000 TO 12,000 calls are reported every week.

It’s the first official day of tax filing season, and the IRS already has a warning for you. Hackers often use knowledge of their victim’s personal life to trick companies into giving them a target’s login information by answering security questions over the phone.

Don’t get duped. Instead the Treasury Department is telling would-be-victims to hang up.

Amy Spitler’s son was scammed after he took a phone call from an individual who informed him his mother owed the IRS back taxes.

Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card. They do not threaten you, they do not tell you have you to pay right now or that you have to pay with a credit card or a money order.

Tax assistance programs are run with IRS-certified volunteers.

The earlier you file, the earlier you will receive your tax refund.

In Massachusetts the April 18th deadline falls on Patriots Day so you will have until the 19th to get your returns in.

AUGUSTA, GA- With nearly one million reports of scams, The IRS says taxpayers have collectively loss more than 26 million dollars over the last few years to people impersonating tax collectors.

The IRS is lambasted for cutting services for expats in recent years, while the number of U.S. taxpayers filing from overseas has steadily increased.

“The IRS will not make angry calls to demand immediate payment”, Koskinen said.

The IRS encouraged taxpayers to plan ahead and take advantage of the online resources available on IRS.gov.

All taxpayers, regardless of income, have access to free online fillable forms, which provide electronic versions of IRS paper forms to complete and file, but the IRS noted that its Free File program is also available on its website for those taxpayers who qualify.

Despite all of these efforts, some taxpayers, who learned previous year that their identities had been stolen, are still rethinking what the best way to file their tax returns should be. One estimate from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration issued in 2012 found that the IRS could issue $21 billion in potentially fraudulent tax returns due to identity theft over the following five years.

Top of the suggestion list is a recommendation that the IRS should open four global offices and fund a tax advocate position in each.