Most of what you've read online about IRS problems is wrong, or at least misleading. I'm Darrin Mish. I practice tax law in Tampa and I've been doing this for 32 years. Here's what's actually true.
The Better Business Bureau (“the BBB”) recently alerted the public to yet another consumer scam. This time, con artists posing as IRS-authorized debt collectors have called people across the United States and Canada using robocalls. The abusive recorded messages threaten that arrests warrants will issue unless a taxpayer pays outstanding debts due to the Internal Revenue Service.
The BBB and the IRS caution the public the Internal Revenue Service will never employ these types of abusive (and illegal) debt collection practices. They urge recipients of the calls to request the name of the company, the caller’s full name and a contact phone number if a live person picks up the phone on the other end of the recorded conversation. Taxpayers should research the legitimacy of the call before sending in a payment to the IRS. And, experts warn, consumers should never make a payment over the phone in response to one of these scam calls.
Unfortunately, some households have already lost money because of the scam. In the State of Texas alone, members of the public paid an estimated $27,000 to the scammers. Authorities believe the con artists have extorted as must as $150,000 daily from Canadian and U.S. taxpayers.
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