{"id":19442,"date":"2013-03-04T10:31:26","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T15:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=19442"},"modified":"2013-03-04T10:31:26","modified_gmt":"2013-03-04T15:31:26","slug":"tax-time-tips-for-taxpayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2013\/03\/tax-time-tips-for-taxpayers\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax Time Tips For Taxpayers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/tax-time-tips-for-taxpayers\/taxes-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-19443\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-19443\" title=\"taxes\" src=\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/taxes-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/taxes-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/taxes.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>As you prepare for the April 15th deadline for filing your income tax return with the IRS, the Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office is encouraging consumers to be extra-vigilant against predatory or downright fraudulent tax relief offers from a tax preparer, suspicious or phishing e-mails, or Stolen Identity Tax Refund Fraud (SIRF). Below are a few scams you should be on the lookout for:<\/p>\n<p><strong>SIRF<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Identity thieves are finding new ways everyday to gather personal information in order to file fraudulent tax returns. With stolen social security numbers, crooks are claiming fake income and withholding information in order to claim fraudulent refunds. While there is no fool-proof way to protect your identity, it is wise to: 1).Only give businesses your SSN when required; not just because it is asked for. 2). Don\u2019t give out your SSN over the phone, mail or the internet unless you know who you are dealing with. 3). Check your credit report for free at\u00a0<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"http:\/\/www.annualcreditreport.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.annualcreditreport.com<\/a>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tax software phishing scams<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The growing popularity of tax preparation software has led to a rise in e-mail scams targeted at do-it-yourself taxpayers. In addition to stealing financial information, some of these phishing e-mails contain fake web links that could download viruses. To avoid falling prey, do not respond to e-mails requesting your password, log-on or bank account information, particularly one that claims to be from the IRS or a tax software provider. Consumers should remember the IRS does not use e-mail to initiate contact with taxpayers about issues related to their accounts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tax relief scams<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Beware of tax preparation firms that claim they can obtain larger refunds than other preparers, who base their fee on a percentage of the amount of the refund, who ask you to sign a blank tax form, or who refuse to provide a preparer tax identification number. Proceed with caution should anyone claim they can free you from having to pay the IRS or can settle debt for pennies on the dollar. For consumers with adjusted gross incomes of $57,000 the IRS offers a \u201cFreeFile\u201d service which you can access at\u00a0<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"http:\/\/www.freefile.irs.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.freefile.irs.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you receive a notice from IRS or learn from your tax professional that more than one tax return for you was filed, respond immediately by calling the IRS ID Protection Specialized Unit at 800-908-4490, ext. 245. If you have received a fraudulent e-mail or been contacted by suspicious fraud preparer, contact the Sheriff\u2019s Office Fraud Line at 477-1242.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As you prepare for the April 15th deadline for filing your income tax return with the IRS, the Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office is encouraging consumers to be extra-vigilant against predatory&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":19443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}