Beware of e-Mail Scams about Electronic Federal Tax Payments

Consumers should be aware of a scam e-mail about an electronic federal tax payment the e-mail claims they tried to make or which specifies the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). The e-mail states that tax payments made by the e-mail recipient through EFTPS have been rejected. The e-mail then directs recipients to a bogus link for a transaction report that, when clicked, downloads malicious software (malware) that infects the intended victim’s computer. The malware is designed to send back to the scammer personal and financial information already contained on the taxpayer's computer or obtained through capturing keystrokes. The scammer uses this personal and financial information to commit identity theft. To avoid malware, do not click on any links, open any attachments or reply to the sender for this or any other unsolicited e-mails you may receive about your tax account which claims to come from the IRS or EFTPS. If you responded to this scam and believe you may have become the victim of identity theft, find out what steps you can take. The IRS and the Financial Management Service (the Treasury bureau that owns EFTPS) do not communicate payment information through e-mail. A scam that tricks someone into revealing their personal and financial data is identity theft. A scam that attempts to do this through e-mail is known as phishing. Find out more about IRS-impersonation phishing scams and how to recognize and report them to the IRS. EFTPS is a tax payment system that allows individuals and businesses to pay federal taxes electronically via the Internet or phone. It is committed to taxpayer privacy and uses industry-leading security practices and technology to protect taxpayer data.

Highlights of New IRS "Authority"

A client has graciously sent this to my attention. The House, Ways and Means Committe report outlining some of the new "Authority" the healthcare bill grants to the IRS. This is a must read. Do you believe it? Yes, right here in America!  I don't want to believe it!! But it's true.


***Highlights of New IRS Authority***

• IRS agents verify if you have “acceptable” health care coverage
• IRS has the authority to fine you up to $2,250 or 2 percent of your income (whichever is greater) for failure to prove that you have purchased “minimum essential coverage”
• IRS can confiscate your tax refund 
• IRS audits are likely to increase  
• IRS will need up to $10 billion to administer the new health care program this decade
• IRS may need to hire as many as 16,500 additional auditors, agents and other employees to investigate and collect billions in new taxes from Americans
• Nearly half of all these new individual mandate taxes will be paid by Americans earning less than 300 percent of poverty ($66,150 for a family of four

Get a copy of the complete report here http://bit.ly/dqzbXL

"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicity."
  Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address.