No one wants to pay more taxes than they are lawfully required to. But
sometimes in their quest for lower taxes, many people will fall prey
to many scams that promise a lower tax bill. In the end, these scams
are always more trouble than they are worth.
My name is Drew Miles, and I am known as the Tax Savings Attorney. My
goal is to help as many people lower their taxes to the absolute legal
minimum, without any risk of facing problems with the IRS. I don't
want anyone going through an audit or facing IRS penalties, so I want
to show you a few common tax scams to look out for.
One of the most common scams comes from those who oppose any taxation
by the IRS. They claim that there is no law requiring you to pay
taxes, and they say that filing is voluntary. Whether or not the law
is on their side, if you don't file your taxes, the IRS is going to
come after you. A similar scam is to file a "zero return" claiming no
income. This raises a huge red flag with the IRS, and is going to get
you in trouble.
Another common scam comes from those who prepare your taxes, and claim
they can greatly reduce your taxes or promise you a large refund.
Dishonest return preparers can cause many headaches for taxpayers who
fall victim to their schemes. Such preparers derive financial gain by
skimming a portion of their clients' refunds and charging inflated
fees for return preparation services.
Taxpayers should choose carefully when hiring a tax preparer. As the
old saying goes, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
And remember, no matter who prepares the return, the taxpayer is
ultimately responsible for its accuracy. Since 2002, the courts have
issued injunctions ordering dozens of individuals to cease preparing
returns, and the Department of Justice has filed complaints against
dozens of others. During fiscal year 2005, more than 110 tax return
preparers were convicted of tax crimes.
One common scam involves offshore transactions. Individuals continue
to try to avoid U.S. taxes by illegally hiding income in offshore bank
and brokerage accounts or using offshore credit cards, wire transfers,
foreign trusts, employee leasing schemes, private annuities or life
insurance to do so. The IRS and the tax agencies of U.S. states and
possessions continue to aggressively pursue taxpayers and promoters
involved in such abusive transactions. If you think that an offshore
account is the ticket to lower taxes, you need to think again.
People always ask me "Drew Miles, with all these scams out there, how
can I legally lower my taxes?" The short answer is by taking advantage
of the overlooked legal tax deductions, which can drastically reduce
your taxable income. The most powerful tax saving strategy you can use
is to clearly understand the distinction between your personal and
business expenses, and work to legally convert your largest personal
expenses into legitimate business expenses. Its the small items that
most preparers overlook that add up to big savings.
When you apply legal tax saving strategies to your finances, your
taxes will not only be lower than if you had listened to any of these
unscrupulous tax scammers, but you will not have to worry about being
challenged by the IRS.
To learn more about legal tax savings, pickup a copy of my free CD,
Tax Secrets of The Rich, at www.taxsavingconcepts.com
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Drew Miles
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