Scam One
The new Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting program I talked about in a recent email (A Stake through the Heart of All “Private” Wyoming LLCs – In Fact, All Entities in All States) is creating a great scam that you need to watch out for. I’ll just let you read the government alert.
Alert: FinCEN has been notified of recent fraudulent attempts to solicit information from individuals and entities who may be subject to reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act. The fraudulent correspondence may be titled
"Important Compliance Notice" and asks the recipient to click on a URL or to scan a QR code. Those e-mails or letters are fraudulent. FinCEN does not send unsolicited requests. Please do not respond to these fraudulent messages or click on any links or scan any QR codes within them.
Scam Two
The Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) program has been going on since COVID-19. It is certainly legitimate, but it is pretty hard to qualify for. The basics were presented by me and Ben Rucker in a YouTube video way back when the ERTC was introduced.
There are a number of companies that have blossomed in the last couple of years to help businesses get the
ERTC money. That’s ok, and you may want to have your accountant run numbers for you to see if you qualify.
The problem is these companies are “fudging” the numbers to make them work. I have seen them create employees, adjust salaries, and do all sorts of shenanigans to make a company appear to qualify for the ERTC money.
When you get the ERTC money from the government, the scammers take 15% of it for their services. The problem is it will take several years for the government to start auditing the ERTC filings. By the time your company is audited, and the filing is compared with your 2020 or 2021 tax return, the company
that helped you “qualify” will be long gone.
With a bankruptcy filing of the company, your chance of ever getting your 15% back will be long gone and you will be stuck paying all the ERTC money back (including the 15%) plus penalties. The IRS picks audits by the preparer of the filing that they know fudged the numbers, so be very careful. Watch the YouTube video and decide
whether you qualify. If you don’t think you qualify, you probably don’t.
Some of the companies helping people get the ERTC money are essentially making sure everyone that comes to them “qualifies.” Beware!
