Need to Know Tax › Questions everyone gets asked
Scams
The IRS Dirty Dozen scams
Twelve ways people lose money or get into trouble, and the habits that stop nearly all of them. Some are criminals pretending to be the IRS, some are promoters selling a tax break that does not exist, and a few are preparers who put their clients at risk.
Each spring the IRS publishes the scams it is seeing most. Some are criminals pretending to be the IRS, some are promoters selling a tax break that does not exist, and a few are preparers who put their clients at risk. Here is the 2026 list, in the order the IRS gave it, with the one habit that stops each.
| # | The scam | The habit that stops it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | IRS impersonation by email or text, often with a QR code to a fake IRS website | The IRS never starts contact by email or text. Delete it. |
| 2 | Computer-generated calls that sound like IRS agents, with caller ID that says IRS | Caller ID proves nothing. A first contact by phone is a scam. Hang up. |
| 3 | Fake charities after a flood or fire, with names close to real ones | Check the name in the IRS exempt-organization search before giving. |
| 4 | Social media tax hacks promising a credit you have never heard of | If it works for everyone, it is not a tax rule. |
| 5 | A stranger who offers to set up your IRS Online Account, then redirects your refund | Set it up yourself. The person who holds the login holds the refund. |
| 6 | Bogus Forms 2439, claiming credit for tax a mutual fund never paid | If you do not recognize the fund, stop. |
| 7 | The nonexistent Self-Employment Tax Credit | Search IRS.gov for it and you find only the warning. |
| 8 | Ghost preparers who will not sign the return they prepared | By law, anyone paid to prepare a return must sign it. If it is wrong, the only name on it is yours. |
| 9 | Inflated noncash charity deductions, such as easement and art schemes | A deduction worth more than you put in is the tell. |
| 10 | Fabricated W-2s or 1099s with made-up withholding | The IRS matches the forms and freezes the return. |
| 11 | Phishing aimed at tax offices to steal client files | Ask how your preparer exchanges documents; email attachments are the weak point. |
| 12 | Offer in Compromise mills that promise to settle for pennies | The program is real; the guarantee is not. The IRS has a free pre-qualifier tool. |
How the IRS actually contacts people
Nearly every impersonation scam fails this test. The IRS sends a letter by U.S. mail first, with a notice number in the corner. It calls or visits only after letters have gone unanswered, and a visiting agent carries credentials you can verify. It accepts payment by check to the U.S. Treasury or through IRS.gov, and it gives you the right to appeal. It never starts contact by email, text, or social media, never demands immediate payment over the phone, never asks for gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency, and never threatens arrest or deportation. A first contact by phone is a scam.
A letter that looks real can be checked: look up the notice number at IRS.gov, log into your IRS Online Account where every genuine notice is listed, or bring it to your preparer. Most letters are real; the scammers mostly use the phone. The Colorado Department of Revenue works the same way, and its letters carry a letter ID you can check at tax.colorado.gov.
Worked example: three messages in one week
| What arrived | The tell | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A text: “IRS: your $1,247 refund is on hold. Verify your bank details at [link].” | The IRS does not text. The refund amount is bait. | Delete. Check Where’s My Refund on IRS.gov if curious. |
| A voicemail: “This is Officer Davis with the IRS. A warrant has been issued. Call 877-… within 24 hours.” | No officer, no warrant, no 24 hours. A first contact by phone. | Hang up. Report to phishing@irs.gov or the Treasury Inspector General. |
| A letter: CP2000, proposing $2,100 of additional tax on a 1099 you did not report, with a notice number and a response date | By mail, with a notice number, about a specific form the IRS received, offering a way to disagree. | Real. Look up CP2000 at IRS.gov, then respond by the date, agreeing or disputing with documents. |
The real one is the quiet one. The scams are loud, urgent, and want a number from you.
What to do
If a suspicious message arrives, do not click, scan, reply, or call the number in it. Forward phishing emails to phishing@irs.gov, then tell someone; a neighbor gets the same call next week. If someone filed a return in your name, you find out when your own return is rejected as a duplicate: file Form 14039, the Identity Theft Affidavit, with your real return on paper, then get an Identity Protection PIN for everyone in the household. If you claimed a credit that turned out to be bogus, amend before the IRS writes; penalties are far lower for a taxpayer who comes forward, and the promoter who sold it will not be answering the letter.
Checking a preparer
Before you hand your W-2s to anyone, look the preparer up in the IRS directory of credentialed preparers (enrolled agents, CPAs and attorneys are listed; so are preparers who completed the IRS’s annual filing season program). Ask how the fee is set; a percentage of the refund is a warning sign. Have the refund deposited to your own account, never the preparer’s. On the finished return, the paid-preparer section at the bottom of page two should have a name, a signature, and a PTIN. By law, anyone paid to prepare a return must sign it. A preparer who promises a bigger refund than everyone else, before seeing your documents, is promising to invent something.
Behind the scenes
When a new client brings in last year’s return, a preparer reads the paid-preparer box before anything else. Blank, on a return claiming a home office, large charitable gifts, and a fuel-tax credit, says the prior preparer was a ghost and the return probably needs amending before the IRS asks. The next check is whether the refund went to the client’s own bank account; when it did not, the client never saw all of it. The third is the Social Security numbers on the return against the cards, because a ghost preparer’s other business is selling them.
The Colorado side
The Colorado Department of Revenue contacts taxpayers by mail, with a letter ID that can be checked in Revenue Online, and it holds some refunds for identity verification by letter; a text or call about a Colorado refund is a scam. Colorado has no state preparer licensing, so the IRS directory and the preparer’s credentials are the check here too. Colorado’s own scam alerts are posted at tax.colorado.gov.
What to bring your preparer
- Any letter from the IRS or the Department of Revenue, unanswered, so it can be checked and answered properly
- A screenshot of any suspicious text or email, if you want it identified; do not forward the link
- Last year’s return, so the paid-preparer box and the refund account can be checked
- Your IP PIN notice, if you have one
- If you were sold a credit or deduction you are unsure about: the promoter’s materials, before the IRS writes
Questions people ask
The caller knew my name and the last four of my Social Security number. Isn’t that proof?
No. Those are in every data breach. The IRS does not make first contact by phone, whatever the caller knows.
I got a letter saying I owe $3,400. How do I know it’s real?
Look up the notice number in the corner at IRS.gov, or log into your IRS Online Account, where every real notice appears. A real letter also tells you how to disagree; a fake one tells you how to pay.
A TikTok video says I can claim a $7,000 self-employment credit. Can I?
No. The credit does not exist. Returns filed with it are frozen, and the person who filed it owes the refund back with penalties, not the video’s creator.
My preparer wants my refund deposited to her account and she’ll pay me the difference. Normal?
No. The refund goes to your account. A refund deposited to a preparer’s account is the mechanism behind most ghost-preparer theft.
Can a company really settle my IRS debt for pennies?
The Offer in Compromise program is real and some people qualify, based on what the IRS could collect from them. Nobody can guarantee it in advance, and the IRS’s free pre-qualifier tool tells you in minutes whether it is worth pursuing.
If it is urgent and it wants a number from you, it is not the IRS
The IRS starts with a letter, never demands a particular payment method, and never asks for an IP PIN or a bank login by phone. That one test defeats nearly every impersonation on this list.