By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch Deborah Buckmaster has seen tax scams before, but not as bad as this year. Buckmaster, who runs a tax preparer business in Eatonville, said the attempted scams by telephone are coming out of the woodwork. "In 15 years of preparing taxes, this has been the worst year for people calling and asking for help with these fraudulent calls" from miscreants posing as IRS agents, Buckmaster said. There are many variations, according to IRS officials. A caller may threaten a taxpayer with arrest or court action in an attempt to trick them into making a payment. Other schemes include claims that the taxpayer is entitled to a big refund. I've even received a few of these scam calls at my house," said Buckmaster, owner of Buckmaster's Tax Service and Bookkeeping. "The biggest thing I would like to let people know is not to give out any information over the phone. If you have reason to think you may owe the IRS, you can ask the agent for their badge number and call the IRS directly at 800-829-1040. They can verify if the badge number is authentic and if you actually owe back taxes." Aggressive and threatening phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents are a major threat to taxpayers, said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. He reported a surge of scam artists threatening police arrest, deportation, license revocation and other bogus punishment. The IRS urges taxpayers to guard against con games during and after filing season, he added. "Taxpayers across the nation face a deluge of these phone scams. Don't be fooled by callers pretending to be from the IRS in an attempt to steal your money," Koskinen said. "If you are surprised to be hearing from us, then you're not hearing from us.GÇ¥
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