IRS again contracting private debt collectors

WASHINGTON — The IRS is resuming the use of private debt collectors after a wave of telephone scams in which fake government agents tell innocent taxpayers to pay up or face jail, the tax agency announced Tuesday.

The IRS stopped using private debt collectors in 2009 after the agency determined that IRS employees could do the work better. But Congress passed a law in 2015 requiring the IRS to restart the program.

The IRS says it soon will start turning over the accounts of 100 taxpayers a week to four private debt collectors. The program will grow to 1,000 accounts a week for each firm by the end of summer.

The firms can keep up to 25 percent of what they collect.

To combat fraud, the IRS says it is sending letters to taxpayers alerting them that their accounts are being turned over to private debt collectors. The private companies will then send letters to the taxpayers before calling them.

“The IRS remains extremely concerned about the many con artists out there who masquerade as IRS employees or contractors,” said Mary Beth Murphy, who heads the small business and self-employed division at the IRS.

“We urge everyone to be on the lookout for scammers who might use this program as a cover to swindle taxpayers,” she said.

Since the fall of 2013, more than 1.9 million people have received unsolicited telephone calls from fake government agents, according to the inspector general for tax administration. The callers demand money, saying the victim owes unpaid taxes. To date, more 10,300 victims have paid more than $55 million to the criminals.