IRS to Use Third Party Debt Collectors

The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to use private debt collectors to go after people who have not paid their taxes. Congress added a tax collection provision in the new 2015 highway funding bill.

Tax scams rank No. 1 on the Better Business Bureau’s list of Top Scams for 2015, totaling 24%.

“These are taxes that are owed and not in dispute,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

The IRS has tried to outsource tax collection twice before, in 1996-1997 and 2006-2009. Others believe the change could make it easier for scammers – posing as IRS collectors – to steal more money from more victims. The new law allows authorized debt collection companies to make “robocalls” or “robotexts” without obtaining prior consent. The Help Americans Never Get Unwanted Phone calls Act (HANGUP), is a newly introduced bill, attempting to repeal the robocall and robotexts provisions.

In the last two years, the Tax Administration received more than 730,000 complaints about imposters claiming to be with the IRS, with 4,550 victims paying more than $23 million to criminals.

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