Life Kit: Money How to avoid this year's common tax scams
6 snips
Mar 12, 2026 
Mark Gallegos, a Chicago CPA and partner at Portie Brown, offers practical tax know-how. He highlights common scams like fake refunds and threatening calls. He calls out viral social media tax hacks and LLC myths. He explains how to verify tips using IRS sources and how to vet tax preparers to avoid fraud.
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Treat Viral Tax Tips As Starting Points
- Do treat short social media tax tips as starting points, not final answers.
- Mark Gallegos says 30-second clips can make narrow provisions sound universal and you must verify eligibility, limits, and caveats before acting.
Common Online Schemes Involve Inflated Deductions
- Insight: Inflated credits and bogus business expenses are common schemes pushed online.
- Mark Gallegos gives examples like falsified earned income credit, family groceries claimed as client meals, and 100% vehicle deductions without business use.
Verify Tax Claims With IRS Primary Sources
- Do verify tax claims with primary sources like irs.gov and relevant IRS publications before taking a position.
- Mark Gallegos recommends finding code sections or publication numbers (e.g., Publication 502) to establish substantial authority.