CNBC:
Let’s face it: Filing your income tax is time-consuming and confusing, and scammers play off of the uncertainty that comes along with it. And since no one wants to get on the bad side of the Internal Revenue Service, when you get a call from the “IRS” and they talk about “fraud,” “police,” “back taxes” and “arrests,” it tends to get your attention. It’s that fear that drives the tax-season scammers.
It’s tax season so please make sure your less tech-savvy family and friends are aware of scams in general and this type specifically. My wife almost got caught in a “Canada Post” phishing scheme a few days ago.
It’s hard to believe people think income tax can be paid with iTunes Gift Cards.
It doesn’t help that the whole tax process is made needlessly complicated just so that companies like Turbo Tax can stay in business. Made an error on your taxes? They’ll re-assess automatically and determine the correct amount. If they can do that in the first place why bother getting people do duplicate the work and potentially introduce errors?
Because the error might be in their favor, I assume.
Seriously, I ran into that a few years ago. CRA does the right thing. I thought I was owed a refund of about $100. They sent me $300 instead with an explanation.