As the 2023 Tax-Season Scams Series draws to an end, Florida Attorney General Moody is issuing the final alert by highlighting a drastic increase in reports to the IRS on suspicious activity.
The Internal Revenue Service reported a more than 300% increase in reports of suspicious activity from 2021 to 2022.
Florida Attorney General Moody launched the Tax-Season Scams Series to highlight common tax-related schemes and provide tips about how to avoid falling victim.
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Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “IRS reports of suspicious activity skyrocketed last year—up more than 300%. To make sure Floridians are protected from common tax scams, I launched this series and hope that it continues to guide taxpayers as we move closer to the filing deadline.”
Here are some of the most common tax-related scams:
- Fraudulent Tax Preparers: Fake tax preparers, often advertising the cheapest rates or promising the greatest refunds, aim to obtain a victim’s personal and financial information;
- Tax Identity Theft: When a bad actor uses, or attempts to use, personal information of another individual to commit tax fraud;
- Refund Recalculation Scheme: Phishing emails sent to targets that look like a tax-refund payment or a recalculation of a tax refund—attaching a link to input personal information to claim the refund; and
- IRS Imposter Scams: When a scammer pretends to be the IRS by spoofing caller ID, emails or regular mail to make targets believe the IRS is legitimately attempting to make contact—all in an attempt to phish for personal information.
Just last week, four Tampa Bay area Tax preparers have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit tax fraud and aiding or assisting in preparing false income tax return documents.
Jamica Nelms, Capriesha Cummings, Camille Harper, and Ashley Flournoy each face a maximum penalty of eight years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, from January 2017 through April 2019, Nelms, Cummings, Flournoy, and Harper were income tax return preparers at Business #1 in St. Petersburg.
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They conspired to defraud the United States by preparing false income tax returns for numerous clients of Business #1 in order for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to issue tax refunds in excess of what the clients were entitled to receive.
In doing so, Nelms, Cummings, Flournoy, and Harper documented on Schedule C forms they prepared that clients owned fictitious businesses which maximized the clients’ ability to claim the Earned Income Credit on their tax returns and thereby increase their tax refunds.
They also fraudulently reported that clients were entitled to claim credits for fuel taxes or education expenses paid to make it appear that their clients were entitled to tax refunds.
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“The defendants’ admissions today stress the importance of the taxpayer acting as the first line of defense against unscrupulous preparers and their scams,” said IRS-CI Tampa Special Agent in Charge Brian Payne. “With the filing season deadline just a week away, this investigation is a timely reminder about why the taxpayer must do their due diligence when selecting a preparer because ultimately you are responsible for your return.”
This case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Greg Pizzo, Jay Trezevant, and Maria Guzman.
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