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ID-100214117According to the dictionary, “confidential” means something spoken, or written, or acted upon in strict privacy or secrecy. It implies having confidence or trust with secret or private affairs. “Confidential” can intimate that a magazine article will be juicy and full of information you can’t get anywhere else. In my business, it is quite the opposite. I acknowledge that you, my clients, tell me things that you share with no one else. I value your trust. I honor your trust in keeping true to my oath of confidentiality with your important tax information. You ask me questions, I answer them to the best of my ability. Sometimes I must research the law to arrive at the right answer under the current law. Occasionally tax professionals will consult with one another about how they might handle a tax issue. But when we are discussing actual tax facts, names and other identifying information are never revealed. I am blessed with clients who have been with me since my first year of being in business. I am proud to acknowledge that this year marks the 30th year of my tax practice. Some clients that are with me today have been happy with my service since their first day with me and some are with me until they file their final tax return. Life happens and not every client can stay with me, some move away, some marry and the new couple may decide to go with the spouse’s preparer. There are some clients unhappy with the advice I render and they chose to find another advisor who might give them the answer they are looking for. Many times a client will be happy enough to recommend family and friends to come to me. What they discuss among themselves is their choice, their business, but what each individual discusses with me is held in strictest confidence. If one family member should find a reason to change advisors, the rest of the family may be influenced to leave me as well.  I can never discuss the business of one with the others. Misunderstandings can never be explained by me to people not involved in the particular situation. As your preparer, you will never hear me talking about you or your situation as part of any dinner conversation. I was at a restaurant one evening and overheard a man at another table talking with his tablemates. He sounded to me like a tax return preparer talking about another person known to the group, but not present at that dinner table. I wanted to go over and ask him if he knew what he was doing. I didn’t embarrass him or myself and quietly stayed at my own table. As your tax return preparer I an bound by law to answer honestly any question the IRS has about the preparation of your return during the processing of that return. But when I represent you at the IRS in a tax audit, I answer their questions truthfully, but with your best interest in mind. When I hire staff to assist me in my tax office, I have them sign a Confidentiality Agreement acknowledging that client privacy and confidentiality are of the utmost importance. If they should violate this agreement they can be subject to a fine of up to $25,000. At the end of any tax season you will never see boxes of outdated records sitting by the curb on trash-pickup day. Any piece of paper with confidential data that is no longer needed to be kept in my office is fed into the cross-cut shredder. No one would be able to put that piece of paper together again to find out what is between only you and me and the IRS. When I was a young girl growing up, my mother never taught me how to gossip. I am so glad she shared her confidential standards with me. I hope you are comforted by my level of respect for you, your identity and your private information.
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courtesy nsacctThe IRS’ Dirty Dozen has nothing to do with eggs or outlaw motorcycle gangs!  The IRS’ Dirty Dozen has everything to do with tax scams. Taxpayers who get involved in illegal tax scams can lose their money. They can face stiff penalties, interest and even criminal prosecution. We’ve all heard, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” This time the Internal Revenue Service really is your friend. They want you to be safe and informed. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about fraudulent phone calls. Phony phone calls are just one of the rotten eggs the Internal Revenue Service wants to warn you about.  Telephone scams are number two on this list. Identity Theft tops the list. An identity thief uses YOUR identity to illegally file a tax return and claim a refund. If you or someone you know has fallen victim to identity theft, contact me for further help. Phishing is a term used to describe unsolicited emails or fake websites that appear to be legitimate. Scammers will try to lure you, trick you, into providing them with your personal and financial information. Know that the IRS does not begin contact with you in this way. They will send you a letter by US Mail. Then YOU get to respond. Once you contact them, they may telephone you back because YOU will have given them your contact information. False promises of “free money” or inflated refunds is another common tax-season scam. Scam artists often pose as tax preparers during tax time. They lure their victims in by promising large refunds. Taxpayers who buy into this kind of scheme often end up paying back the refund PLUS interest PLUS penalties. Take care when you choose someone to prepare your return. Ask them questions to help you feel comfortable helping you with this important matter. The IRS has said that about 60 percent of taxpayers use professionals to prepare their tax returns. Most return preparers, like myself, provide honest service to their clients. But there are rotten eggs in the tax business. Dishonest preparers take advantage of unsuspecting taxpayers. The result can be refund fraud or identity theft. Be sure you only use a tax prepare that will sign your return. They must also enter their Prepare Tax Identification Number, or PTIN. If you pay them, they must sign as the paid preparer. If not, they are as dirty as a motorcycle outlaw. Other tax scams involve hiding income offshore, out of the country. Claiming false income, expenses or exemptions is committing tax fraud. How much money is enough to go to jail? Other tax protesting citizens claim zero wages. They take frivolous arguments in defense of a losing positon on their tax return. Sometimes they set up abusive trusts to hide their income. Of course, it is impossible to predict what the next and newest tax scam will be. Your best defense is to remain vigilant. You sign your tax returns under the penalty of perjury. What is your freedom worth to you? Mine is priceless. If you’d like to hear my radio show about this very topic, go to my “Latest Audio” .  My show airs every Friday at 10amPT/11amET. Past shows can also be found on my website – just click on the Radio!
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ID-10098497When I, Nellie, get a phone call from the IRS, it really IS the IRS. Income taxes are my job, after all. If a phone call is the first contact YOU get from the IRS know this…IT IS PROBABLY NOT THE IRS! The first contact you will get from the IRS is usually a letter. If the IRS wants to talk to you, they will contact you by regular “snail” mail. They will NOT contact you by email. That email is phony, too. There are SO many ways people commit fraud. I have spent my life learning how to do things right. It boggles my mind that other people spend their lives trying to figure out how to scam the system. Most of those people are in jail or are on their way to jail. Personally, I like my own bed and my own cooking better than the bread and water jail diet. The IRS wants you to beware of these types of scams. The callers pretend to be from the IRS. They hope to be able to steal money from you. They also hope to steal your identity. The phone scams include many variations, such as…
  • Sometimes they say you owe money.
  • Sometimes they say you are entitled to a huge refund.
  • Some calls threaten arrest.
  • Some calls threaten your driver’s license revocation.
  • Sometimes these calls are paired with follow-up calls from people saying they are from the local police department or the state motor vehicle department.
According to IRS.gov, the phony scams can include some of these characteristics:

“Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.

“Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security Number.

“Scammers “spoof” or imitate the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.

“Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.

“Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.

“After threatening victims with jail time or a driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.”

“If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do: If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 800-829-1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue – if there really is such an issue.

“If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes, then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484”

Next week I’ll discuss some of the other IRS’ “Dirty Dozen” scams for you to guard against.
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