4 legit companies that will call you to collect past due taxes for the IRS

Millions of dollars have been lost and personal information compromised to IRS phone scams.

Action News Jax has always reported that it’s a scam because the IRS would never call to collect debt, but that’s changing now.

The Better Business Bureau is worried that this will lead to more scams and scammers will find new ways to trick people.

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The IRS started phasing in the use of contracted companies to collect people’s past due taxes over the phone.

"We've been told not to answer the phone and now they're going to be mad if we don't talk to them now," a woman, who didn’t want to be identified, said.

In 2015, a federal law was passed that lets four private debt collectors call people for money owed.

A Jacksonville woman said she got a scam call from someone claiming to be with the IRS demanding $2,000 from her and she’s skeptical about the new process.

"I think it's very scary because people will not know how to answer them," the woman said.

Travis Simpson said he also got an IRS scam call.

"The voicemail said that basically they filed a lawsuit against me," Simpson said.

Simpson thinks that the new way that the IRS is doing things could cause more people to fall for scams.

"If the only way we knew it wasn't a scam is because they weren't going to call and now they're going to call, how do we differentiate between the IRS and a scam," Simpson said.

According to the BBB, the IRS and private debt collector will both send a letter first and the callers will identify themselves and it would not be a robo-call.

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Also the agent will not ask for payment over the phone.

"Sometimes people don't pay attention to every detail especially if they're being threatened," Simpson said.

The private firms will also only be calling about tax debts that people have had for years.

All four of the companies contracted by the IRS are BBB Accredited Businesses:

CBE Group
1309 Technology Pkwy
Cedar Falls, IA 50613

Conserve
200 CrossKeys Office park
Fairport, NY 14450

Performant
333 N Canyons Pkwy
Livermore, CA 94551

Pioneer
325 Daniel Zenker Dr
Horseheads, NY 14845

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