IRS cracking down on tax fraud

The IRS is warning you to be careful where you get your taxes done. There is a coast-to-coast crackdown on tax fraud.

Dan Boone with the IRS says there are shady tax preparers who make inaccurate claims on returns to get the customer a large refund check. The customer could get in trouble with the IRS and have to pay that money back on top of penalties and interest.

Boone says tax season also brings out identity thieves who file a false return and get the refund check.

"A part of what we've done to stop this is, we've increased our filters of returns coming through to try to catch returns before money goes out," said Boone.

Across the country, there have been 109 people arrested for tax fraud and identity theft. Birmingham is considered a high risk area.

IRS agents are visiting businesses like check cashing places to make sure they are not assisting criminals who try to illegally cash tax refund checks.

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