IRS warns last-minute filers to be extra vigilant about tax scams

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The tax return filing season may be coming to a close, but IRS officials say now is the time to be extra vigilant for scams and fraud.

With less than a week to complete returns, taxpayers may be turning to someone else to do their taxes. U.S. Attorney John Kuhn, however, warns that crunch time is the most vulnerable time for potential victims.

The attorney's office and the IRS say unscrupulous tax preparers include on customers' returns things like "inflated education expenses that are used as deductions or credits, false information about dependents and unreported income," Kuhn said.

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"We do recognize that the vast majority of the return preparers are legitimate professionals," said Tracey Montano, Special Agent in Charge for the IRS Criminal Investigation division.

The small minority who are not legitimate, though, they include false claims and ultimately get their customers in trouble.

"Taxpayers have to remain diligent when they work with return preparers," Kuhn said. "Taxpayers remain responsible for the content of the returns. They sign those."

There are very few cases in which a hoodwinked taxpayer has gotten jail time as a result. That doesn't necessarily mean that he or she walks penalty-free.

"You'll be responsible for paying the tax and the penalty and interest that is associated with the tax that you didn't originally report," Montano said.

Kuhn and Montano also said identity theft, as well as phone and email scams are in full swing until the very end of the season.

Around 150 million tax returns are filed each year, and in 2014, more than over 2 percent of them were false claims. Kuhn said that's a loss of about $15.7 billion each year.

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