Author Archives: Andrew Jaffe

During tax season, IRS Scams are more prevalent than ever. I have reprinted this IRS alert to remind everyone that the IRS does not contact you by phone for information.

The IRS continues to warn consumers to guard against scam phone calls from thieves intent on stealing their money or their identity. Criminals pose as the IRS to trick victims out of their money or personal information. Here are several tips to help you avoid being a victim of these scams:

• Scammers make unsolicited calls. Thieves call taxpayers claiming to be IRS officials. They demand that the victim pay a bogus tax bill. They con the victim into sending cash, usually through a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. They may also leave “urgent” callback requests through phone “robo-calls,” or via phishing email.

• Callers try to scare their victims. Many phone scams use threats to intimidate and bully a victim into paying. They may even threaten to arrest, deport or revoke the license of their victim if they don’t get the money.

• Scams use caller ID spoofing. Scammers often alter caller ID to make it look like the IRS or another agency is calling. The callers use IRS titles and fake badge numbers to appear legitimate. They may use the victim’s name, address and other personal information to make the call sound official.

• Cons try new tricks all the time. Some schemes provide an actual IRS address where they tell the victim to mail a receipt for the payment they make. Others use emails that contain a fake IRS document with a phone number or an email address for a reply. These scams often use official IRS letterhead in emails or regular mail that they send to their victims. They try these ploys to make the ruse look official.

• Scams cost victims over $23 million. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, has received reports of about 736,000 scam contacts since October 2013. Nearly 4,550 victims have collectively paid over $23 million as a result of the scam.

The IRS will not:

• Call you to demand immediate payment. The IRS will not call you if you owe taxes without first sending you a bill in the mail.

• Demand that you pay taxes and not allow you to question or appeal the amount you owe.

• Require that you pay your taxes a certain way. For instance, require that you pay with a prepaid debit card.

• Ask for your credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

• Threaten to bring in police or other agencies to arrest you for not paying.
If you don’t owe taxes, or have no reason to think that you do:

• Do not give out any information. Hang up immediately.

• Contact TIGTA to report the call. Use their “IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting” web page. You can also call 800-366-4484.

• Report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the “FTC Complaint Assistant” on FTC.gov. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.

Phone scams first tried to sting older people, new immigrants to the U.S. and those who speak English as a second language. Now the crooks try to swindle just about anyone. And they’ve ripped-off people in every state in the nation.

Stay alert to scams that use the IRS as a lure. Tax scams can happen any time of year, not just at tax time. For more, visit “Tax Scams and Consumer Alerts” on IRS.gov.

Each and every taxpayer has a set of fundamental rights they should be aware of when dealing with the IRS. Explore your rights and our obligations to protect them on IRS.gov.

As you know, I limit my practice to E-Commerce and Internet Law. Why then am I writing this blog about advanced health care directives? Simply because every lawyer has a responsibility to perform services for the public good at no cost. As I never want to give away my services in my chosen field, and as I have a mother of advanced age, I chose this field to offer my “pro bono” services. I volunteer at a local hospice care center to offer this same advice to families and patients who are at a very vulnerable moment in their lives. Therefore, please consider using this blog’s advice to create your advance health care directives before your family is in this vulnerable situation.

State Laws control the form of the documents discussed below and they are sometimes called by different names. Most states have their standard acceptable forms online for you to download and fill in the blanks. These online forms also offer definitions and advice when you are filling in the forms. Finally, the forms will need to be notarized.

Living Wills

The purpose of a Living Will Declaration is to document your wish that life-sustaining treatment, including artificially or technologically supplied nutrition and hydration, be withheld or withdrawn if you are unable to make informed medical decisions and you are in a terminal condition or in a permanently unconscious state. This Living Will Declaration does not affect the responsibility of health care personnel to provide comfort care to you. Comfort care means any measure taken to diminish pain or discomfort, but not to postpone death. If you would not choose to limit any or all forms of life-sustaining treatment, including CPR, you have the legal right to so choose. A Living Will Declaration is applicable only to individuals in a terminal condition or a permanently unconscious state. If you wish to direct medical treatment in other circumstances, you should prepare a Health Care Power of Attorney. If you are in a terminal condition or a permanently unconscious state, this Living Will Declaration controls over a Health Care Power of Attorney.

Health Care Power of Attorney

The Health Care Power of Attorney allows you to appoint someone you trust — for example, a family member or close friend – to make health care decisions for you if you lose the ability to make decisions yourself. By appointing a health care agent, you can make sure that health care providers follow your wishes. Your agent can also decide how your wishes apply as your medical condition changes. Hospitals, doctors and other health care providers must follow your agent’s decisions as if they were your own. You may give the person you select as your health care agent as little or as much authority as you want. You may allow your agent to make all health care decisions or only certain ones. You may also give your agent instructions that he or she has to follow. This form or an attached form can also be used to document your wishes or instructions with regard to organ and/or tissue donation.

When selecting your agent, I recommend you do three things when preparing these forms:

1) Make sure the person you have selected and agreed to be your agent knows your wishes. I often suggest meeting with this person at least twice to discuss your wishes with them, and to make sure they understand what to do in any situation.

2) Further, if you are selecting someone who is out of the legal chain of command (e.g. spouse, children or guardian) I further urge you in the strongest possible terms to tell your spouse or children that you have done this. I would suggest writing a letter or email to them to tell them you have made this choice because you do not want to burden them with the hard decisions that must sometimes be made when they are in a state of keen distress or sorrow.

For instance, what if you are unconscious and the doctor wants to remove a limb. A relative would agonize over this decision, and may not do what you wish done. However, you will have discussed this situation with your agent, and they can make the decision you would have made without regard to anyone else’s wishes.

3) That is why my third recommendation is so important. Be sure to choose someone of strong moral character who will not only do as you have discussed and directed, but will not bow to the pressures of others present who think they know better. I personally have been through this process with a parent, and made the decisions they wanted. While I allowed my siblings to weigh in with their opinions, in the end it was my responsibility to look them in the eye and tell them I was doing as I was instructed to do. I had to stand up to their demands, and take the actions I was instructed to do by my parent. In the end, while this choice was hard, I had no guilt or recriminations. I did as I was asked, and never lost a moment’s peace as I knew I had made the correct decision based on my conversations with my parent.

In most States the Living Will supersedes the Health Care Power of Attorney. Why then is the Health Care Power of Attorney needed, you may ask? Because there are times when the situation at hand is not addressed in your living will. Expanding on the example I used in 2) above, suppose you have been in an automobile accident. You are in surgery and the doctor comes out and says they have done everything they can to save your limb, but now the situation is either remove the limb or you will die. Since you came into the hospital in a comma, and as you are under anesthetic, you cannot express your wishes. Living Wills don’t usually contemplate this situation, and are usually used in cases of long term sickness (e.g. cancer.) Someone needs to make this decision immediately. Since you have discussed this possibility with your Health Care Power of Attorney agent, they will know what you want done and can make the decision for you. They can make this decision as you would have made it, even in the face of opposition from family members.

DNR’s (Do Not Resuscitate Orders)

A DNR is an unique advanced directive in that you cannot make it in advance. A DNR can only be signed by your doctor after you have entered into a health care situation that is terminal (e.g. cancer.) If you are still awake and rational, you may tell your doctor to sign a DNR. If you are not rational, or in a comma, then your Health Care Power of Attorney agent can ask the doctor to sign a DNR order. This is another reason you want both a Living Will and a Health Care Power of Attorney.

If you have questions regarding Advance Directives, please contact a local attorney for guidance and advice.