tax scam
Illegal refund scheme
A tax scam is a fraudulent scheme exploiting people's obligations or anxieties around taxes.
Some target taxpayers directly—fake IRS calls demanding immediate payment, phishing emails during tax season, or promises of inflated refunds.
Others are illegal tax-avoidance schemes marketed as legitimate strategies: The accountant went to prison for running a tax scam that cost the government millions.
The term covers both cons perpetrated against taxpayers and schemes to defraud tax authorities.
- fraudIntentional criminal trickery
- IRSFederal tax collector
- auditFormal accounts examination
- evasionAct of escaping detection
- phishingFraudulent credential harvesting
identity theft · refund · offshore · shelter · laundering · scheme · con · swindle · cheat · deduction · loophole · criminal · investigation · penalty · bogus · fake · preparer · federal
- online scamsphishing, Nigerian prince, email spoofing, smishing, vishing
- scamsfraud, frauds, swindle, swindles, con
- phone scamsrobocall, robocalls, vishing, phishing call, phishing calls
- tax issuesIRS notice, late filing, underpayment, wage garnishment, bank levy