Taxation Legal News

Late Tax Scam Discovered; Free File Users Reminded To Use IRS.gov

The Internal Revenue Service learned late Friday of a new tax scam on the Internet that lures taxpayers into filing tax information on a site masquerading as a member of the Free File Alliance. The IRS reminded taxpayers the only place to access the Free File program is through the official IRS.gov Web site.

“The final days of the tax season always bring tax scams,” IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said. “Make sure you’re really dealing with the IRS. Taxpayers can feel safe using Free File, but the only way to do it is through the secure IRS.gov Web site.”

The latest twist on tax scams involves tax preparation Web sites that inaccurately say they are part of the Free File Alliance, a partnership between 19 tax software companies and the IRS. The IRS is working with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to look into allegations that the Web sites accepted tax information from taxpayers, changed the taxpayers’ bank account numbers to their own and then filed the return through a legitimate Free File partner. Read more at ftp.irs.gov.

Contact our Minnesota Taxation Lawyer Now!

	Did You Know?
	Form 5471 is Information Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Certain Foreign Corporations Report information with respect to certain foreign corporations. A domestic partnership may have to file Form 5471 if it: Controls a foreign corporation; or Acquires, disposes of, or owns 5% or more in value of the outstanding stock of a foreign corporation; or Owns stock in a corporation that is a controlled foreign corporation for an uninterrupted period of 30 days or more during any tax year of the foreign corporation, and it owned that stock on the last day of that year.