With the 2015 tax season underway, The Wolf Group would like to remind our clients and colleagues about the rampant phone scams from callers claiming to be from the IRS. These scammers employ sophisticated techniques to threaten taxpayers that they will be arrested by the IRS, then they proceed to request them to pay a fine, and request the taxpayer’s personal information.  There are also links in some phishing emails that solicit personal information from the recipients.

The IRS will always send taxpayers a written notification of any tax due via the U.S. mail, and does not ever initiate contact with taxpayers by email or phone to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels. The IRS never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the phone.

If you receive a suspicious IRS-related communication:

  • do not reply
  • do not open any attachments
  • do not click on any links
  • forward the email “as is” to phishing@irs.gov
  • After you forward the email to the IRS, delete the original email you received.

If you receive a phone call or paper letter via mail from an individual claiming to be the IRS but you suspect they are not an IRS employee:

  • Hang up immediately
  • If you know or think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue, if there really is such an issue.

All unsolicited email claiming to be from either the IRS or any other IRS-related components should be reported to phishing@irs.gov.  If you have experienced monetary losses due to an IRS-related incident please file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission through their Complaint Assistant to make that information available to investigators.