Many Doctors Report Tax Fraud

 Posted on April 01, 2014 in Tax Audits

According to news reports, many physicians who waited till April 13 to file taxes may have become victims of tax fraud.

Many doctors have reported being surprised when they attempted to file the taxes on April 15, and found out that their taxes had already been filed. Filing fraud taxes on behalf of another person is a simple tax fraud scheme that is fairly common. In these schemes, the person then pockets the refunds that the victim was eligible for.

This scheme is fairly simple to operate. The fraudster will access a company's W-2 database, which provides all the data about employees of the firm, their earnings, as well as personal data. With all that information, a person can find it very easy to file returns on behalf of the employee. In fact, some fraud schemes use fraud software that actually automates fraudulent and tax return filing. Some payroll systems are much more vulnerable to hacking than other types of systems.

Several medical societies have reported recently that a large proportion of their doctors have reported identity fraud, and tax fraud. In fact, one statement by the American Medical Association finds that fraudsters have hit doctors and healthcare providers this year. It's not yet clear whether the fraudsters were trying to attract doctors specifically, or whether they were trying to target high-income professionals.

One of the most important things that you can do to protect yourself against tax fraud is not to wait until the very last minute to file a tax return. This is the mistake that many people, especially busy professionals make, with devastating consequences.