Common ways scammers steal tax refunds

SACRAMENTO – Did you know tax preparers are not allowed to take a percentage of your tax refund as compensation? Or that an advertisement promising guaranteed tax refunds is a red flag for fraud?

“How can anyone know you’re getting a refund until after they’ve looked at your paperwork? It’s simple. They can’t,” Lester Crawford, chair of the California Tax Education Council, a state-mandated nonprofit organization that manages the registration of more than 40,000 tax preparers, said. “The key to staying out of trouble with the IRS and getting the so-called ‘biggest refund’ is all about how educ...