Avoid Tax Settlement Scams

When you deal with your back taxes and attempt to fix them, you should only rely upon official documentation about the tax amount due. All tax amounts should be based on only those documents received directly from the tax authority itself.

Many third party businesses send so-called "settlement" offers in the mail. These offers are often designed to look official when they are in fact nothing more than a cheap solicitation to take your money by preying on your fears about tax debt consequences.

Beware of third parties who mail you offers to settle your debt. Be aware of such offers where the settlement amount is presented as an amount far lower than the tax debt amount. Ask yourself if this business is actually empowered to negotiate on your behalf with the tax authority.

In some cases, these "offers" appear so legitimate that someone without any back taxes might think that they owe. Often, these scams are designed to take advantage of the elderly and the presentation will appear legitimate, as if it came from the tax authority or a law firm. Always read the fine print! Even better yet, just throw these scam offers in the trashcan.

In most cases, offers received in the mail from third party businesses are not meaningfully helpful toward resolving your back tax debt. So your best course of action to settle your back taxes is to communicate directly with the tax authority about a settlement, either yourself or through an enrolled agent or a qualified tax attorney.