Electronic Tax Filing News: Property Tax Scam

Source:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2012/07/18/beware-scams-when-cutting-property-taxes/

There is nothing wrong with wanting to have lower property taxes. People often think they are paying too much for their property taxes, and they're probably right. Shady companies have taken this thought people have and turned it into a business venture.

As a good rule of thumb beware any e-mail you get that claims to lower payments or tell you how much you could be saving with “X” product. Most likely these e-mails are phishing for your personal information. If you do put in your information and send the e-mail, you may get no response, but that doesn't mean nothing will happen. Often times this is a way to scam you for your precious financial figures or social security numbers, and the “companies” may not even really exist.

You can always challenge your own property assessment, free of charge. You don't have to have a company do it for you for a fee. Beware anyone that offers you this service.

This article outlines some specific guidelines to watch out for:

1. The letters or e-mails appear to come from government run agencies, but are really private companies.(make sure to look at the fine print and all forms before responding)
2. Offers to file a challenge of assessment, a free service, for a fee. They may claim to be “faster” or “guarantee” a lower property tax value.
3. They ever ask for your property deed or a copy of such.
4. Any company that asks for your Social Security Number

These scammers often mail you in time or before the city does their own reassessments. In the event that your property tax values will diminish through scheduled updates, the scam artists will charge you a fee and claim to reduce your fees, but it would have been done for you anyway when the city does them as scheduled. These creeps prey on your ignorance, and use the city's own efforts against you to turn a profit.

This is a fake, make sure you don't fall for this!
Source

Please throw any advertisements like these away or delete them immediately. Mark them as junk in your e-mail and always go through your city assessors for your property tax needs. Tax scams are running rampant with the financial hardships many are facing. Do your best to educate yourself. It is often your only protection against these predators.

View my other articles about tax scams to continue your education!

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Electronic Tax Filing News Update: 2012 Tax Scams

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With the economy in the shape it's in, people need all the money they make just to make end's meat. Don't let someone take advantage of you and your personal information to make their life easier by making your life harder. We at Online Tax Pros hope you can benefit from this information and have a great tax season!

Please leave a comment if you know of any other tax scams that are not listed here so we can spread awareness!

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