Original Message:
Re: Current info on walking away from a timeshare (by R P.):
How the timeshare charity scams triggers an audit .... you have to pay the back fees plus interest:
How this scam triggers an IRS audit.
You may ask, ‘what triggers the IRS audit?’ It’s a good question, with a simple answer that the scam company will conveniently neglect to tell you. You see, when your timeshare is transferred to the charity, the charity doesn’t want to keep it for the same reasons you don’t want it; it comes with an annual liability (maintenance fees). When the transfer is done, the charity will immediately ‘sell’ it to a third party, usually to a holding company owned by (you guessed it) the scam company. For their part in the scheme the charity receives $100 for the ‘sale’ of the timeshare. Of course this is all part of the scam. Here’s the trigger. By law, the charity is required to file a report with the IRS on the actual amount they receive when they sell your timeshare. When the IRS automated systems see that you claimed a deduction on a timeshare that the charity sold for only $100..…bingo....can you say AUDIT?
Folks, this scam may be new to timeshares but it is not new to the IRS. This same scam started many years ago with cars, and then boats, and the scam continues to this day. We’ve all heard those radio commercials suggesting that you donate your beat-up, worthless car to a charity so that you can take a deduction far higher than the car is really worth (you don’t hear that part until you call and get the details). As we’ve said, the IRS is not stupid. They’ve been dealing with this scam for many years. That's why they now require the charities to disclose the actual amount they receive when they sell the car or boat. If you took a deduction that was substantially higher than the amount the charity sold it for, a red flag goes up and is likely to trigger the audit. This timeshare version is just the latest in a long line of similar scams. While the IRS may appreciate that you wouldn’t have committed this fraud had it not been suggested to you by the scam company, the fact is that you did indeed knowingly file a false deduction and unlawfully profited from the United States Government. You knew that your timeshare was virtually worthless. You knew that the ‘appraisal’ was not a real appraisal. You knew that claiming the deduction was wrong. The IRS calls it fraud.