The start of tax season means it’s time for taxpayers to take steps against criminally minded individuals wanting to steal their identities and wallets.
“Every year our investigations turn into prison sentences for those committing tax fraud, but that doesn’t lift the burden and trauma from the victims of those tax crimes,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Ramsey E. Covington, of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Houston Field Office. “There are criminals out there who will try to steal your tax identity or otherwise make you an unwitting participant in a tax fraud scheme.”
There are 10 tips that help avoid those crimes:
- Look for a preparer who is available year-round.
- Ask your tax preparer for their IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). All paid preparers are required to have one.
- Make sure the tax preparer will sign the tax return they prepare for you. Look elsewhere if they won’t.
- Tax preparers that promise larger refunds than their competition may place you at risk of being part of a criminal scheme. All taxpayers must pay their fair share of taxes.
- Find a new tax preparer if you are asked to sign a blank tax return. You are ultimately responsible for what appears on your tax return, no matter who files it.
- Verify where the IRS will deposit your tax refund. Your tax return should be deposited to your bank account, not your tax preparer’s.
- The IRS will not call you threatening legal action. These calls are scams.
- Text messages, emails and social media posts claiming to be the IRS may contain links or malware that could compromise your personal information. Do not respond to them or click those links.
- Protect your personal and financial information. Get An Identity Protection PIN | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)
- Report fraud to law enforcement. Submit Form 3949-A, Information Referral, if you suspect an individual or a business is committing fraud.
One example of a type of unscrupulous taxpayer to watch for is David Wright, a former local tax preparer. He was ordered to federal prison following his conviction of fraudulently filing tax returns from 2014 to 2017. Wright was sentenced on Nov. 1, 2022, to 36 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by one year of supervised release and was ordered to pay $178,688 in restitution to the IRS.
In handing down the sentence, the court noted the nature of the offense, the fact that Wright employed others to participate in the fraudulent activity and that these fraudulent filings were done without the knowledge of the taxpayer clients. IRS-CI’s investigation revealed Wright and his employees prepared and submitted 43 fraudulent tax returns for 16 clients.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. The agency’s Houston Field Office stretches across Texas with nine offices between Houston and El Paso.
