Forbes‘ Kelly Phillips Erb (@taxgirl, for you Twitter-types) has written an article on the IRS’s annual “Dirty Dozen” tax scams for 2012. Get informed and protect yourself!

Not surprisingly, Identity Theft tops the list. (Now is perhaps a good time to remind you about Salal’s Shredables and Edibles FREE annual Shredathon, April 28). According to Erb and the IRS, attacks on identity are on the rise, and one popular ruse is stealing identities, filing fake tax returns, and collecting false refunds. Now more than ever, we need to be vigilant about protecting our sensitive information.

Other Scams of 2012 include phishing (attempts to get you to enter personal information in an email or website), return preparer fraud (be sure your tax preparer has the proper credentials), and scams that try to convince you to provide false information on your tax forms in order to get a reward or refund that doesn’t exist. These can land you in seriously hot water, so if anything looks, smells or feels wrong, protect your future by walking away.

To read all of Erb’s article for Forbes, click here.

Filed under: Financial News and You by admin