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They got 'em! Police in India arrested more than 70 people and more than 600 are being questioned and facing arrest. Here is just one report: http://abc27.com/2016/10/06/dozens-arrested-at-india-call-center-linked-to-irs-scam-calls/ Just today a client called and said the IRS has been calling her (she does have IRS issues), but she could hardly understand their thick accents in the message and every time she called back no one picked up. Hopefully that indicates the authorities have shut off their phones and with everyone in jail there is no way they can answer anyhow. I told her to read today's paper. Of course, I'm sure there are many more scams like this one still operating. And like with local drug gangs, when one gets taken out of commission others pop up to fill the void. Well, at least we and our clients will have a reprieve.

This is very good news. Based on the number of persons involved and the amount of money being collected, this was a large scale operation. Other operations that have been shut down involved a handful of people. There are surely others still out there, but for the meantime, my "IRS" calls have stopped.

I'm glad to see this, but I view the news with a mixture of positive and negative feelings. It's probably more a matter of optics than substance. The US government has probably been leaning on the Indian government to do something about this, since so many of the scammers have identifiable accents. So the Indian government "locates" a site (which was probably already well-known to them), conducts a raid, does a few perp walks, and grabs some headlines. Problem solved (at least the public relations part of it). This operation is probably a drop in the bucket and nothing will really change with respect to the ongoing scams. But the government officials can claim they are cracking down and everybody feels better about it.

Mine have stopped also.

in Judaism, the number 18 [chai] is lucky so many people make contributions in multiples of 18,180,1800 and many will use 18 in the amount, ie 218, 518, etc. I once had an audit and the agent [not Jewish] didn't want to accept the cancelled checks saying that they must have been for tickets or something run through the temple. [pre 250 letter requirement days]. I asked him how long he has been auditing here on the North Shore of Nassau County and he said 1 week. I laughed and explained it to him. Months later he called me to thank him for the education and how all he sees are donation such as I listed above. I guess not many Jews from where he came from, somewhere down south.

Great news. I've been getting a lot of these lately where they come in a series of two calls. One a man another a woman sounding a little robo like. I love their closing, "have a nice day". I hope they do too, making license plates and eating instant potatoes.

SFA, I kept waking up last night checking the Weather channel because Matthew had a bullseye on Stuart FL where I have friends. It turned out that the worst of the storm stayed offshore and in speaking with my friend this morning there was only a torn screen. He is 1 mile from the beach. It appears that New Smyrna and Daytona Beach will have more damage but not devastating. If your son's bungalow needs replacing, that's what insurance is for, the main thing is, he is safe. When it is rebuilt it will be better than ever. This may be nature's way of keeping our economy going, except that it doesn't take into account the personal loss, that's why there is family like you.

I agree! I am NOT a babysitter! 9 1/2 months is enough time for ANYONE! I have even resorted to telling people the deadline is still Aug. 15. Guess when they bring me their information??? Intentionally Apathetically Ignorant and Clueless!! I just fired 2 clients this week because I could not complete their just provided documentation completed in one day. I told them where the closest H&R is located. I'll bet they pay their Cable TV, Internet and Cell phone bills on time!!

My goal here has been to express my opinion that you are wrong that Christian could get nailed for overstating liability. Of course he could, and should, be hammered for understating liability. So do I. I believe if they were going to hammer us for misstatements, they would have used the word misstatement, not the word understatement (of taxpayer's liability). I think IRS was very clear if you think about it. I'd bet my lunch that no lawmaker ever thought anybody would be fighting over the ethics of overpaying tax. Only tax pros. IRC § 6694 – Understatement of taxpayer’s liability by tax return preparer. IRC § 6694(a) – Understatement due to unreasonable positions. The penalty is the greater of $1,000 or 50% of the income derived by the tax return preparer with respect to the return or claim for refund. IRC § 6694(b) – Understatement due to willful or reckless conduct. The penalty is the greater of $5,000 or 50% of the income derived by the tax return preparer with respect to the return or claim for refund.

That is all simply fantastic, Jack, and I'm glad you posted that because I remember you also making a comment about not caring about articles written by some unproven source, that is if I may be so bold as to *retread* something you said. That statement of yours was in reference to an article by an attorney that was an expert in the area being discussed and published in the AICPA's JoA, but never mind that now because the information below is what is pertinent to the current discussion. So,back to your post that references the penalties assessed under sec 6694, there is no need to make any interpretation about the "spirit of the law" here. If you've ever read that section, you should note that it ALL pertains to UNDERSTATEMENT of taxpayer's liability, and nowhere in it does it reference understatement of deductions. If you are unsure and would like to read it again or perhaps for the first time, here is a link to that section of the code: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6694

October clients just aren't understandable. Have one right now with two kids in college (could use the money) who hasn't filed for three years. I completed what I could and told them their combined refunds are approaching $29k. One would think they would get me those few missing pieces of info like yesterday. Still waiting.....