New IRS Web Section to Alert Taxpayers and Practitioners of Tax Fraud

The IRS has announced the establishment of a Web section designed to alert taxpayers and tax practitioners to tax scams and fraud schemes. The website highlights priorities for IRS Criminal Investigation (CI). The IRS states that, currently, CI is focusing on abusive foreign and domestic trusts, employment tax evasion and nonfilers. Case summaries of individuals recently convicted of committing such crimes are included on these pages.

The website can be found at http://www.treas.gov/irs/ci or by going to http://www.irs.gov and clicking on a new sidebar link titled, "Tax Scams and Tax Fraud Alerts; IRS Criminal Investigation." The IRS also has reminded taxpayers to take special precautions not to fall victim to tax scams. The schemes are varied and range from promises of "secret" tax refunds to committing illegal acts to evade tax. Suspected tax fraud can be reported to the IRS at 1-800-829-0433.