Tax Season Means Tax Scams, Ohio Attorney General Says

Tax season has been in full swing for a couple of months now. For most of us, that means the hope of a nice tax return and the sweaty-palmed anxiety of hoping you filled out all of your forms properly. For law enforcement, it means phony tax returns.

The Ohio Attorney General's Office says there have already been 150 tax scams logged in March alone. There were 80 tax scams reported in January and 175 in February.

Scammers will frequently threaten their targets on the phone. They may want their targets to make a payment over the phone. Notably, the IRS will never ask you to make a payment via the phone.

“As we get further into tax season, we’re seeing more of these scams,” Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement. “What we want people to remember is that if callers are threatening you, saying you have to pay immediately, or saying they’re going to put you in jail, it’s not the IRS.”

In 2017, one of the other major tools of tax scams are robocallers. Most callers can immediately identify the robotic drone of a pre-recorded message. There will usually be a long pause at the beginning as the recording waits for a human voice to initiate. Other times the recording will start immediately, so there is no sure-fire way of dodging robocalls. However, once you have identified the caller as a robot, hangup. Don't call the number back, either, DeWine warns.

You may be able to block some of the unwanted calls through your service provider. If you're on AT&T or Verizon, give their customer service a call and see if they offer any services for blocking unwanted callers.

One of the other major scams that takes place during this time of year is tax fraud. That means identity theft and someone filing a false return in your name. Fake tax returns have already been filed in residents' names in Westlake, Beachwood and other Greater Cleveland communities.

DeWine advises that the best way to avoid being victimized by a fake tax return is to file your return as soon as possible. If you're using a CPA or someone else to file your tax return, do your research on their background. Make sure they have good reviews and haven't had customers that were victims of identity theft.

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