Criminal Defense Lawyers

What To Do If FBI or IRS Agents Contact You About Your ERC Claim

Two federal agents are standing at your door. They have badges. They want to talk about your Employee Retention Credit claim. Your heart is pounding and your mind is racing through every document you signed, every conversation you had with that promoter who promised everything would be fine. This moment right here is the most dangerous fifteen minutes of your entire life.

What you do in the next few moments will determine whether you walk away from this encounter with your rights intact or whether you hand the government everything they need to build a criminal case against you. Most people get this wrong. They think cooperation looks good. They think talking will clear things up. They think refusing to answer questions makes them look guilty. Every single one of those assumptions is backwards.

The agents at your door are not there to help you. They are not there to get your side of the story. They are there because a criminal investigation has already started and you are either a target or someone they believe can help them build a case against someone else. Either way, talking to them without an attorney is the worst decision you could possibly make.

Why Federal Agents Are At Your Door Right Now

IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI dont show up at random homes asking casual questions about tax credits. If agents are at your door, it means your ERC claim has been flagged, investigated, and escalated to criminal enforcement. This didnt happen overnight. Theres been months of work behind the scenes before anyone knocked on your door.

Heres the thing most people dont understand about federal investigations. By the time agents contact you, they already have a theory of the case. They already have documents. They probly already have statements from other people. The interview isnt about gathering information. The interview is about locking you into statements they can use against you later.

The IRS has been running a major enforcement initiative on ERC fraud since 2023. There looking at claims that were filed by promoters who made promises that were too good to be true. There looking at businesses that claimed credits they werent entitled to. And there building criminal cases against people who signed those returns.

When agents show up unannounced at your home or business, thats not a coincidence. Thats a deliberate tactical choice. They want to catch you before you can think clearly, before you can review any documents, before you can call an attorney. The surprise is the entire point. Your confusion and fear are features of this approach, not bugs.

The Two Agent Interview System

Federal agents almost always travel in pairs when conducting interviews. One agent asks the questions. The other agent takes notes. This isnt just procedure. Its a carefully designed system to create pressure and document everything you say.

The questioning agent will seem friendly. Theyll make small talk. Theyll act like this is just a routine conversation, nothing to worry about. Meanwhile the note-taking agent is writing down every single thing you say. Every word. Every pause. Every correction you make when you realize you said something wrong.

Heres were it gets dangerous. The agents already know the answers to most of the questions there asking you. They have your tax returns. They have bank records. They have documents from your ERC promoter. When they ask you a question, there not looking for information. There looking to see if your answer matches what they already know.

If your answer matches the documents, you havent helped yourself at all. You just confirmed what they already knew. If your answer doesnt match the documents, you just gave them evidence that you made a false statement to federal agents. Thats a separate crime under 18 USC 1001. It carries up to five years in prison. You can be convicted of that crime even if you didnt commit the underlying offense they were investigating.

The note-taking agent creates whats called a Form 302. This is a written summary of the interview. Its not a transcript. Its not a recording. Its the agents interpretation of what you said. And it will be used against you at trial if the case goes that far.

The “Just a Witness” Deception

One of the most common tactics agents use is telling you that your not the target of the investigation. Theyll say there really interested in someone else. Maybe the ERC promoter. Maybe your accountant. Maybe a business partner. Your just a witness, they say. There just trying to understand what happened.

Dont beleive it for a second.

This is a standard interview technique designed to lower your guard. If you think your not in trouble, your more likely to talk freely. Your more likely to share information without thinking carefully about how it sounds. Your more likely to say something that turns you from a witness into a target.

The legal categories matter here. In a federal investigation, there are three categories of people:

• Targets are people the prosecutor believes committed a crime
• Subjects are people whose conduct is within the scope of the investigation
• Witnesses are people who might have relevant information but arent suspected of wrongdoing

Heres the problem. These categories can change at any moment. You can walk into an interview as a witness and walk out as a target. All it takes is one statement that makes the agents think you knew more than you should have known. One answer that suggests you understood the ERC rules werent being followed. One comment that implies you benefited from something you knew was wrong.

Even if you actualy are just a witness right now, talking to agents without an attorney is still a mistake. Witnesses get charged all the time when there statements dont match up with documents or other witness testimony. The false statement charge dosent care whether you were a target or a witness when you made the statement.

Your Constitutional Rights Are Not Optional

You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. These rights exist whether the agents read them to you or not.

Most ERC interviews happen at your home or business, not at a police station. Your not technically in custody. Your free to close the door or walk away. Because your not in custody, agents are not required to give you Miranda warnings before asking questions. But that dosent mean you dont have rights. It just means you have to assert them yourself.

The IRS Internal Revenue Manual specificaly instructs special agents to stop interviewing if you say you dont want to talk or dont want to answer more questions. This is in there own procedures. You can literally say “I dont want to answer any questions” and they have to stop.

You dont have to be rude about it. You dont have to make a scene. You just have to be clear and firm. Something like this works: “Im not going to answer any questions without my attorney present. I’d like you to leave now.” Thats it. Thats all you have to say.

Some people worry that refusing to talk makes them look guilty. Agents will sometimes suggest this. Theyll say it would be better for you to cooperate. Theyll say refusing to answer questions could make things worse. This is not true. A prosecutor cannot use your silence against you at trial. But they can use every single word you say.

Think about that for a second. Talking can only hurt you. Staying silent cannot hurt you at trial. The math here is not complicated.

The Cooperation Pressure Game

Agents are trained to create pressure to cooperate. There good at it. Theyve done hundreds of these interviews. They know exactly what to say to make you feel like talking is the right choice.

Common pressure tactics include:

• Suggesting that cooperation will help your case
• Implying that other people are already talking and you should get your story out first
• Acting like the investigation is almost over and this is your last chance to influence the outcome
• Expressing sympathy for your situation while hinting that prosecutors will be less sympathetic

All of this is designed to get you talking. None of it is binding. Agents cannot make deals on behalf of prosecutors. Even if an agent tells you that cooperation will help, that agent has zero authority to guarantee any outcome. Only prosecutors can make deals, and prosecutors arent at your door.

Heres something people dont understand about cooperation in federal cases. Real cooperation happens through attorneys. It happens after youve seen the evidence against you. It happens after youve negotiated terms with the actual prosecutor. It happens with protections in place. Blurting out information to agents at your doorstep is not cooperation. Its just giving away your defense for nothing.

The time for potential cooperation is not when agents show up at your door. The time is after you have an attorney, after you understand what your facing, after you have leverage to negotiate. Talking now dosent give you credit. It just gives the government more evidence.

What Every Question Is Really About

Federal agents receive extensive training in interview techniques. What feels like casual conversation is actualy a carefully designed process to extract information and admissions.

Even simple questions have purpose:

• When an agent asks how your business was doing in 2020 and 2021, there establishing your mental state and business conditions
• When they ask who prepared your ERC claim, there identifying additional targets and witnesses
• When they ask if you reviewed the documentation, there establishing what you knew and when you knew it

Questions about your relationship with your ERC promoter are particuarly dangerous. Agents want to know what promises were made, what representations you relied on, and whether you had any reason to doubt those representations. Every answer you give can be used to establish either your guilt or your knowledge of the fraud.

The friendly small talk is not friendly. Questions about your family, your background, your business history are all designed to get you comfortable and talking. Once your talking about anything, your more likely to keep talking. The transition from small talk to substantive questions happens gradually and intentionaly.

Some agents will ask the same question multiple ways throughout the interview. If your answers are inconsistent, even slightly, that becomes evidence of deception. If you correct yourself, that correction can be used to argue you knew your first answer was wrong. There is no winning this game. The only winning move is not to play.

The 18 USC 1001 Problem

Making false statements to federal agents is a federal crime under 18 USC 1001. This is the Martha Stewart statute. Its what they use when they cant prove the underlying crime but they can prove you lied during the investigation.

The standard for this crime is terrifying. You dont have to be under oath. You dont have to sign anything. You just have to make a statement that is materially false. Materiality means the statement could have influenced the investigation. Thats a low bar.

Memory is unreliable. Events from 2020 and 2021 are years ago. You probly dont remember exactly what happened, exactly what documents you signed, exactly what conversations you had. But if you guess wrong during an agent interview and your guess contradicts a document they have, your facing a false statement charge.

This crime carries up to five years in federal prison. For ERC cases, prosecutors love this charge because it dosent require them to prove complicated tax fraud. They just have to prove you said something false during the investigation.

The safest thing to say to any question is nothing. The second safest thing is “I dont recall” – but only if thats actualy true. Saying you dont recall something you clearly do remember is also a false statement.

After the Agents Leave

The moment those agents walk away from your door, the clock starts ticking. What you do in the next 24 to 48 hours can shape the entire trajectory of your case. Most people make critical errors in this window because there still in shock and not thinking clearly.

If agents came to your door and you talked to them, call an attorney immediately. Write down everything you remember saying while its fresh. Every question they asked. Every answer you gave. Every document they mentioned. Every name they brought up. Your memory of this conversation will fade quickly, and the details matter enormously. Do not destroy any documents. Do not delete any emails. Do not contact any other witnesses. All of those actions can be charged as obstruction of justice, which adds years to any sentence.

If agents came to your door and you didnt talk to them, you still need to call an attorney immediately. The investigation isnt going away. There going to contact you again, possibly with a grand jury subpoena. You need representation before that happens.

Do not call the agents back. Do not try to explain anything. Do not think that you can fix this by providing documents or clearing up misunderstandings. Everything you do from this point forward should go through an attorney.

Your ERC promoter is not going to help you. Many promoters are already under investigation themselves. Some have stopped returning calls from clients. Some have disappeared entirely. Whatever they told you about defending the credits, whatever audit protection they promised, none of that matters now.

The government is prosecuting ERC fraud aggressively. The IRS has identified billions in suspected fraudulent claims. The DOJ has made ERC fraud a priority. People are going to prison over this. The question is whether you take steps now to protect yourself or whether you make mistakes that guarantee a worse outcome.

Finding the Right Attorney

Not every attorney handles federal criminal tax investigations. This is a specialized area. You need someone who knows IRS Criminal Investigation procedures, grand jury practice, and federal sentencing guidelines. You need someone who has relationships with federal prosecutors and knows how cooperation actually works.

Start by looking for attorneys who specificaly handle federal white collar defense. Look at there experience with tax fraud cases. Look at whether theyve handled ERC cases before. The ERC fraud wave is relativly new, but the underlying legal issues are the same as other tax fraud cases.

The attorney you hire should be able to contact the agents or prosecutors on your behalf to understand where you stand in the investigation. There target letters, subject letters, and witness letters. Each one means something different. Your attorney needs to find out which category you fall into and what the government is actually looking for.

If your a target, your attorney can explore whether cooperation makes sense and negotiate terms before you say anything. If your a subject, your attorney can work to keep you in that category rather than becoming a target. If your actualy just a witness, your attorney can help you provide information safely without exposing yourself to liability.

The cost of an attorney is significant. Federal criminal defense is expensive. Were talking tens of thousands of dollars, sometimes more depending on how far the case goes. But its not as expensive as prison. Its not as expensive as losing your business, your reputation, your freedom. Its not as expensive as years of probation, restitution payments, and a felony record that follows you forever. The money you spend now on proper representation is the best investment you will ever make.

The Bottom Line on Federal Agent Contact

Federal agents at your door means a criminal investigation is underway. There only goal is to gather evidence. Everything they say is designed to get you talking. Nothing you say will help you. Everything you say can hurt you.

You have the right to remain silent. Use it. You have the right to an attorney. Get one. You have the right to end the conversation. Do it.

The agents will leave. They might come back with a subpoena. They might not. Either way, your next conversation about your ERC claim needs to be with a criminal defense attorney, not with federal agents standing at your door.

Your future depends on the decisions you make right now. The wrong decision is talking. The right decision is staying silent and getting help. This is not complicated. This is not ambiguous. This is your one chance to protect yourself before things get worse.

Dont talk. Get a lawyer. Protect your future. Every minute you wait is a minute the government is using to build there case. Act now.