IRS tax warning: Don’t get tricked by these scams circulating on social media | CPT PPP Coverage

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WASHINGTON – There are lots of ways taxpayers can get tax advice, but one place you should not trust, the IRS says, is social media.

Trusting tax advice on social media can lure otherwise honest taxpayers and tax professionals into compromising tax situations, the IRS warns.

Several examples of how social media can circulate inaccurate or misleading tax information have been seen recently. These often involve common tax documents like Form W-2 or more obscure ones, like Form 8944, aimed at a limited, specialized group, the IRS said.

The schemes encourage people to submit false, inaccurate information in hopes of getting big refunds.

“There are many ways to get good tax information, including from a trusted tax professional, tax software and IRS.gov. But people should be incredibly wary about following advice being shared on social media,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement.

“The IRS continues to see a lot of inaccurate information that could get well-meaning taxpayers in trouble,” Werfel said. “People should remember that there is no secret way to fill out a form and simply get a larger refund that they aren’t entitled to. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

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The bad advice on social media can lure good taxpayers into trouble. Taxpayers need to be wary of trusting internet advice, whether it’s a fraudulent tactic promoted by scammers or it’s patently false tax-related scheme trending across popular social media platforms.

Intentionally filing forms with false or fraudulent information can lead to serious consequences, including civil and criminal penalties.

Two examples the IRS has seen linked to various filing-season hashtags and social media topics involve getting people to use legitimate tax forms for the wrong reason

• Form 8944 is the Preparer e-file Hardship Waiver Request. One scam circulating in social media, according to IRS, falsely claims that taxpayers can use Form 8944 to get a refund, even if the taxpayer has a balance due. But Form 8944 is used only by tax professionals, and only to seek a waiver to file tax returns on paper instead of electronically. The average taxpayer cannot even use the form.
• A scheme involving W-2 form fraud circulating on social media encourages people to use tax software to manually fill out Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, and include false income information. In this W-2 scheme, scam artists suggest people make up large income and withholding figures as well as the employer its coming from. Scam artists then instruct people to file the bogus tax return electronically in hopes of getting a substantial refund. The IRS and its partners in state tax agencies and the nation’s tax industry are watching for this scheme. The IRS also works with payroll companies and large employers – and the Social Security Administration – to verify W–2 information.

The IRS encourages taxpayers to look for forms, and the detailed instructions on how to file them, at its online forms repository. Taxpayers can fact check information via IRS.gov, official IRS social media accounts, or other government sites.