Message from Auditor Blaha

1. Deadline: County TIF Forms Due March 31st

2. Available: 2022 Legal Compliance Audit Guides

3. Avoiding Pitfalls: Watch Out for Scammers Using Phishing or Smishing Email and Text Messages

Message from Auditor Blaha

Recently our office has received many questions about the use of gift cards by local government entities. Even with the best intentions, it’s easy to make an error with gift cards. Take a look at our Avoiding Pitfall and Statement of Position on gift cards.

1. Deadline: County TIF Forms Due March 31st

The County TIF Information Form is due from counties by March 31, 2023. The form captures information for 2022 regarding a county's TIF administrative activities, distributions of tax increment, and transfers of the TIF enforcement deduction. The information assists the Office of the State Auditor in its oversight of TIF authorities. Instructions on accessing the form in SAFES were emailed to county representatives on January 23, 2023.

If you have any questions, please contact us at TIF@osa.state.mn.us.

2. Available: 2022 Legal Compliance Audit Guides

The 2022 Legal Compliance Audit Guides are now available on the OSA website.

Except for the annual changes to the compensation limitation, most of the individual Audit checklists remain unchanged for 2022. Changes noted below:

• There is one new question in the City Audit Guide applicable to state fire aid allocation agreements between cities and fire relief associations.
• The School District checklist has no new questions, but two checklist questions were changed as a result of legislative enactments in 2022.

3. Avoiding Pitfalls: Watch Out for Scammers Using Phishing or Smishing Email and Text Messages

Each year, the IRS releases its “Dirty Dozen” of common tax-related scams. For 2023, the category related to fake communications posing as legitimate organizations in the tax and financial community, especially phishing and smishing scams, may be of particular relevance to local governments and their employees. The IRS describes these scams as follows:

• Phishing is an email sent by fraudsters claiming to come from the IRS or another legitimate organization, including state tax organizations or a financial firm. The email lures the victims into the scam by a variety of ruses such as enticing victims with a phony tax refund or frightening them with false legal/criminal charges for tax fraud.
• Smishing is a text or smartphone SMS message that uses the same technique as phishing. Scammers often use alarming language like, "Your account has now been put on hold," or "Unusual Activity Report" with a bogus "Solutions" link to restore the recipient's account. Unexpected tax refunds are another potential target for scam artists.

The Avoiding Pitfall is available on the OSA website.