Last year, when the D.C. Office of the Attorney General reported a surge in complaints about crooks pretending to be with the IRS and telling potential victims they owe money, News4 advised the IRS will never call asking for money, but a new law requires a change in that guidance.
The law lets the IRS use contractors to call about tax debts, the Better Business Bureau said.
So here are some things to watch out for:
- Before a collection agency calls you, both the IRS and the collection agency will contact you by mail first, so if you get a call first and didn’t know you owed taxes, be cautious.
- If the caller makes threats or becomes belligerent, hang up, it probably is not a legitimate debt collector.
- A legitimate debt collector will not ask for your credit card information to pay them directly. Payments will only be made to the IRS.
Collection agencies will only call about taxes years overdue about which taxpayers previously have been contacted. You can find out if you have overdue taxes here.
The four collection agencies contracted by the IRS are, CBE Group, Conserve, Performant and Pioneer.
