Over the past couple of years, I have had a noticeable increase in frantic calls from clients who have just received a phone call from someone purporting to be from the “IRS” or are still on the other line with someone like this. The volume of these bogus calls has definitely risen over the past year. In fact, I received two separate phone calls from a fake IRS representative on my cell phone this past Saturday. My calls were actually from a robotic female voice claiming that this was my “final notice” about a past due amount with the IRS and that unless I took action they would be filing a lawsuit against me over the supposed balance due.
Some of my clients say that they have spoken with an actual person, sometimes a man and sometimes a woman, but the line is the same – they need you to make a payment now in order to avoid a lawsuit or arrest by “local authorities”. One client told me that they were demanding that he go to a local store and purchase a prepaid debit card to then give them the information on that card.
Since I receive so many inquiries from clients on this issue, I wanted to use my blogpost this month to address the issue. The IRS or any state agency will not employ these tactics to collect a balance due from you. The IRS will always send a notice in the mail and then follow up that notice with additional notices if you do not respond. If you ignore mailed correspondence for long enough, you will receive a phone call from the IRS. However, they will never threaten you with arrest or demand payment over the phone. If, after ignoring notices sent in the mail, you receive a legitimate call from the IRS about a balance that you owe, you will have the option to set up an installment agreement where monthly payments are taken directly from your bank account by completing a form and submitting it to the IRS.
With this issue, the bottom line is that should you receive a call from someone who says they are from the IRS and they threaten a lawsuit or arrest, feel free to hang up on them or stay on the line and play mind games with them for a while if you wish because they are not legitimate IRS representatives. Never disclose personal information or bank or other financial information to someone over the phone in this case. By the way, the IRS does not communicate at all by email so disregard any emails you might receive from the “IRS”.
So far, the calls I have personally received have not been believable in the least since the computerized recorded voice speaks with very bad English and uses terms that the IRS would never use. On the contrary, if you know that you owe a balance to the IRS and you receive a call that seems legitimate, feel free to contact us for further direction.
If you have any questions regarding a questionable phone call or email you have received, feel free to contact us to discuss.