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Words: 355 Copyright: 2005 Marilyn Pokorney

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Saving money for retirement can be easy or difficult depending on your current salary. If you are like 75 percent of American population, earning just enough money in your current job to meet your monthly bills, then it's time to do some serious thinking on how you are going to live when you retire.

Social Security isn't going to meet all your monthly payments. That is, if Social Security, or some revised form of it, still exists when your day of retirement arrives.

Here are some tips on how to save today for your future. No matter how little, or how much, you earn today.

2005 Scam Highlights

1. Credit Counseling. The IRS warns taxpayers to be careful with credit counseling organizations that claim they can fix credit ratings, promote debt payment agreements or charge high fees, monthly service charges or mandatory “contributions” that may add to debt. The IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division has made auditing credit counseling organizations a priority because some of these tax-exempt organizations, which are intended to provide education to low-income customers with debt problems, are charging debtors large fees, while providing little or no counseling.

2. Identity Theft. It pays to be choosy when it comes to disclosing personal information. Identity thieves have used stolen personal data to access financial accounts, run up charges on credit cards and apply for new loans. The IRS is aware of several identity theft scams involving taxes. In one case, fraudsters sent bank customers fictitious correspondence and IRS forms in an attempt to trick them into disclosing their personal financial data. In another, abusive tax preparers used clients’ Social Security numbers and other information to file false tax returns without clients’ knowledge. Sometimes scammers pose as IRS itself. Last year IRS shut down a scheme in which perpetrators used e-mail to announce to unsuspecting taxpayers that they were “under audit” and could set matters right by divulging sensitive financial information on an official-looking Web site. Taxpayers should note IRS does not use e-mail to contact them about issues related to their accounts.

3."Claim of Right" Doctrine. In this scheme, a taxpayer files a return and attempts to take a deduction equal to entire amount of his or her wages. The promoter advises taxpayer to label deduction as “a necessary expense for production of income” or “compensation for personal services actually rendered.” This so-called deduction is based on a misinterpretation of Internal Revenue Code and has no basis in law.