When my wife was in high school she played in a powder puff football game. This is where juniors and seniors play tackle football against each other, except the teams are comprised of girls instead of guys. It is real intense. Anyway, they decided to put my wife on the offensive line. Even though she weighed all of 103 pounds, they put her up against the biggest and strongest player on the other team. The reason they did this was because my wife was the meanest player on the team. The quarterback was a smart woman; she never got touched by the other team, my wife made sure of it.
Sometimes in life one must simply get tough and not be intimidated by a bully. There are all kinds of bullies all through life who will take advantage of us if we let them. So today I want to warn readers about two things being used by bullies to intimidate us:
- Fake IRS Callers
Recently there has been a rash of telephone calls by people posing as IRS agents. These callers represent themselves as IRS collection agents who are going to file suit against us in court to collect taxes. These fake IRS callers also represent that they will put us in jail if we don’t pay soon, and they will have the sheriff come by to pick us up. They will call us on our cell phone, office phone, and at home. My phone has been ringing every day from people who have received one of these calls. My advice is not to be afraid. Don’t allow yourself to be bullied. These are not real IRS agents. All they want is you your money. Don’t give it to them and don’t answer the phone. If you do get stuck answering the phone, tell them you would be glad to meet with them to go over your case and then schedule an appointment at my office. I’ll make sure that the police are there if the caller is dumb enough to show up. Again, these are not real IRS agents. They are scam artists posing as IRS agents trying to bully you into paying them money. Don’t be a victim.
- Fake Mail Solicitations
When new clients come in, I routinely warn them that if a federal tax lien has been filed or there if there are any other indications that they owe taxes, their mailbox will be filled with solicitations by scam artists seeking to represent them before the Internal Revenue Service. The scam artists are amazing in their ability to simulate IRS stationery. It’s almost as if they have taken actual stationery and put their names, address, and contact information in an effort to solicit new clients. They are even clever enough to take a federal tax lien form and put your name and contact information on it with the demand that you contact them immediately. Again, this is just a solicitation so that you send them money to represent you. But they are bullies because they are frightening you into retaining them. They are also misrepresenting what they can do. The scam artists are more sophisticated than the telephone callers, but in my mind equally dishonest.
When my wife was 16 years old, she was not intimidated by an extraordinary large musclebound woman charging at her from across the line of scrimmage. I’m running this article today to ask you to take that same approach. If you receive a phone call from supposed IRS agents, or if you receive mail solicitations warnings of dire consequences if you don’t get their immediate help with a promise of fantastic results, don’t be bullied and don’t act out of fear. Contact your tax adviser and get good help. Tax law is not a business, it is a profession and we are people not victims.