Sharon Kukhan is known for selling a tax "decoder" scheme to help taxpayers avoid paying federal income taxes. She claimed she could "decode" the taxpayers' tax records to show that they were not required to pay income. Her system was based on the lie that clients did not have to pay income taxes unless they lived in a U.S. territory, and that residents of the United States could only be taxed with an excise tax on an excise-taxable business. The cost for this misinformation? $1,750 to $3,195.

The scheme had several names, including IMF Decoder, Paralegal Research Advocates, and Advocates for Justice, Liberty and Freedom. Kukhan's now defunct website IRScodebusters.com reportedly used to claim: "IRSCodebusters is a team of researchers including a federal lawyer (not an attorney) and a certified paralegal. This team specializes in utilizing the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act to provide a detailed decoding and examination of the Individual Master File and other secretly coded files the IRS keeps on you."

But the scam will run no more. A federal court has permanently barred Kukhan from selling her program, and the IRS estimates her work cost them about $4.9 million from taxpayers who failed to file returns or pay taxes.

If you participated in this scam, you can look forward to the IRS contacting you. Kukhan was required to turn over a list of her clients, and you can bet the government will be sending out audit notices. My advice? Find a competent tax lawyer and go to the IRS before they find you. Many times, they are more lenient with taxpayers who voluntarily report problems with their tax returns and work with the IRS to pay any taxes owed.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

The Internal Revenue Service has released its 2008 list of the 12 scammiest tax scams, with internet phishing and frivolous tax arguments topping the list. The IRS puts this list together each year to keep consumers aware of the latest and greatest tax scams -- and to help them avoid being taken in by them.

The key to avoiding IRS scams is no different than any other scam consumers may encounter: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There are a lot of claims about mysterious free money and magical tax refunds you never knew about. Well, they're simply not true.

Here are the top scams the IRS has identified this year and how you can spot them:

1. Phishing – You get an email that tells you that information is needed from you to in order to process your refund or clarify a tax problem. You click on the link and provide all kinds of personal information that helps criminals empty your bank account or get credit in your name. Never respond to an email that purports to be from the IRS and never use a link in an email to provide private information.

The Internal Revenue Service says that from 1999 to 2004, actor Wesley Snipes didn't file tax returns... and his income during that time was a whopping $37.9 million. What's more, he was told in 2002 that he was being criminally investigated, but he continued to not file.

How did this happen? Apart from possibly internalizing Leona Helmsley's sage advice ("Only the little people pay taxes"), Snipes hooked up with Eddie Ray Kahn, a known tax protester who had been banned from filing tax returns for others because of his shenanigans with a group called American Rights Litigators.

In addition to not filing tax returns, he also is accused of trying to get fraudulent refunds for over $11 million of taxes paid in 1996 and 1997. Snipes was warned on more than one occasion that he was in trouble for his tax-related activities, but it doesn't seem to have bothered him.