Post Office Warns of Tax Rebate Scam

Federal officials are warning Americans to beware of scamsters who may be trying to get a piece of their income tax rebate.

The U.S. Postal Service already has filed a complaint against a group that sent official-looking mailers to taxpayers in five states offering to calculate their coming tax rebate for a fee, a congressional hearing was told Thursday.

The group, which calls itself “Revenue Resource Center,� could face civil penalties of up to $1 million under the Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act, said Lawrence E. Maxwell, head of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s fraud division, in a hearing held by the House Ways and Means subcommittee on oversight.

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Amo Houghton (R-N.Y.) called the hearing after news reports last week that taxpayers in Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Ohio received postcards resembling official IRS mail that included the words “Form 2001 Form 16-B� and that offered to send taxpayers information about the upcoming rebates for $12.95 to $14.95.

The return address is for “Revenue Resource Center,� which was described on the card as “a Non-Partisan Bureaucratic Agency.� The group is believed to be based in Boca Raton, Fla., IRS officials said.

There is no need for taxpayers to pay a fee for the information, Internal Revenue Service officials said.

The deceptive mail act, which Congress approved last year, requires that any solicitation requesting payment for a service or product provided for free by the government also include a “clear and conspicuous statement� indicating that the no-charge option exists, Maxwell said.

This week, the IRS began mailing 112 million notices to taxpayers informing them of how much of a rebate they can expect, IRS Deputy Commissioner Robert E. Wenzel told the committee.

Wenzel also acknowledged that about 500,000 of the rebate notices sent out by the IRS overstated the amount of the taxpayers’ refunds. He said the IRS will send out corrected notices as soon as possible.

Taxpayers also can find out the amount of their rebate by visiting the Internal Revenue Service Web site at https://www.irs.gov or by calling its toll-free number at (800) 829-1040. The toll-free number includes recorded information advising taxpayers that there is nothing they need to do to receive the rebate checks, which the IRS will begin mailing out next week.

Most taxpayers will receive the maximum payment of $300 for singles, $500 for heads of household and $600 for married couples, IRS officials said.