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tax ny 120Buffalo, NY - With tax season underway, Better Business Bureau of Upstate New York knows scammers will be ready to try and take advantage of taxpayers.

BBB reports IRS imposters and other IRS related scams as the number one scam of 2015, according to BBB's Scam Tracker. Of the first 10,000 scam reports processed by BBB, 24 percent were about imposters pretending to be from the Internal Revenue Service. For the Upstate New York service area, it was 19.8 percent.

Recently, the Department of Treasury issued a public service announcement about the IRS scam.

There are several ways scammers try to get money out of you. Here are the two common tax scams to avoid:

Phone calls. People are consistently reporting to BBB that they received calls from "IRS representatives" who claim they owe taxes and must pay or a warrant will be issued for their arrest. Or, they say the IRS is pursuing a lawsuit against them and that they must make a payment immediately. At this time, the IRS never uses phone calls for collection purposes; the IRS only contacts taxpayers via U.S. mail.

Email phishing. These emails contain the direction "you are to update your IRS e-file immediately." The emails mention USA.gov and IRSgov (without a dot between "IRS" and "gov"), though notably, not IRS.gov (with a dot). These emails are not from the IRS. If you get one of these messages, do not respond or click on the links. Instead, you should forward the scam emails to the IRS at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This is also the time of year when we see commercials for advances on refunds, or from preparers guaranteeing you a bigger return.

BBB offers the following information for you to make the right decisions:
  • Say no to refund advances. Getting your refund quicker is often tied to high-interest rates and it doesn't necessarily deliver your refund faster (perhaps a week or two). Be leery of "pre-paid" lines of credit, too. If you go for either, you're giving away some of your refund to a money lender. Also, bigger isn't always better. Be wary of tax preparation services that promise larger refunds than the competition, and avoid tax preparers who base their fee on a percentage of your refund.
  • If you are looking for a tax preparer, ask around. Get referrals from friends and family on who they use. Click here for a list of accredited tax preparers in Upstate New York. Ideally, your tax preparer should either be a certified public accountant, a tax attorney, an enrolled agent or a certified e-file provider.
  • If you file your own taxes, remember: E-file from only a secure computer, make sure anti-virus software is up-to-date, never use public Wi-Fi to file tax returns, don't file taxes from a link in an email, mail tax returns from the post office or a secure mailbox and shred old tax returns. Income tax returns and worksheets should be kept for seven years from the filing date.


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