IRS Warns Taxpayers of ‘Dirty Dozen’ Tax Scams for 2022

tax evasion and avoidance concept.
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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is warning taxpayers about what it deems its “Dirty Dozen” tax scams list for 2022, which includes abusive arrangements.

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The agency issued a press release stating that these arrangements are transactions that are wrongfully promoted and will likely attract additional agency compliance efforts in the future. The first four of them include charitable remainder annuity trusts, Maltese individual retirement arrangements, foreign captive insurance and monetized installment sales, the IRS said.

In the coming days, the IRS said it will focus on eight additional scams, including some focused on average taxpayers, while others are focused on more complex arrangements targeted toward higher-income individuals.

“Taxpayers should stop and think twice before including these questionable arrangements on their tax returns,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in the release. “Taxpayers are legally responsible for what’s on their return, not a promoter making promises and charging high fees. Taxpayers can help stop these arrangements by relying on reputable tax professionals they know they can trust.”

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The IRS is warning taxpayers to watch out for these schemes, many of which are promoted online, “that promise tax savings that are too good to be true and will likely cause taxpayers to legally compromise themselves.”

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“A key job of the IRS is to identify emerging threats to compliance and inform the public so taxpayers are not victimized, and tax practitioners can provide their clients the best advice possible,” Rettig said in the release. “The IRS views the four transactions listed here as potentially abusive, and they are very much on our enforcement radar screen.”

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About the Author

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy is a full-time financial journalist and has written for several publications, including Dow Jones, The Financial Times Group, Bloomberg and Business Insider. She also worked as a vice president/senior content writer for major NYC-based financial companies, including New York Life and MSCI. Yaël is now freelancing and most recently, she co-authored  the book “Blockchain for Medical Research: Accelerating Trust in Healthcare,” with Dr. Sean Manion. (CRC Press, April 2020) She holds two master’s degrees, including one in Journalism from New York University and one in Russian Studies from Université Toulouse-Jean Jaurès, France.
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