IRS Impersonation Scams: How to Tell a Real Notice From a Fake

One sentence from the IRS does most of the work here: "We normally contact you the first time by mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service."

Not a call. Not a text. Not an email. A physical letter, through the post office. If the first you have heard about a tax problem is a voice on the phone, you are not talking to the IRS, and nothing that voice says needs to be evaluated on its merits.

What the real IRS does and doesn't do

The agency emails only when you have opted in, and from addresses ending in irs.gov or from irs@service.govdelivery.com. It texts only when you have opted in. And on social media it's categorical: "A social media direct message is never from us."

The IRS also lists what it will not do, and every item is a scam script:

• Demand immediate payment through a specific method like gift cards or wire transfers.
• Threaten to bring in police, immigration officers, or have you arrested or deported.
• Refuse to let you question or appeal the amount you supposedly owe.

The agency's own summary of the warning signs is three words long: a contact is fraudulent if it is unexpected, rushes you, threatens you, asks for personal or financial information, or demands payment now. That covers essentially every impersonation call ever placed.

The gift card detail deserves emphasis because it's so reliable. There is no circumstance in which the Treasury of the United States accepts payment in retail gift cards. If the conversation reaches a Target parking lot, it was never a tax conversation.

The 2026 Dirty Dozen

The IRS publishes an annual list of the scams it's seeing most. The 2026 edition, in its own words:

1. IRS impersonation by email and text (phishing and smishing)
2. AI-enabled IRS impersonation by phone — robocalls, voice mimicry, spoofed caller ID
3. Fake charities
4. Misleading tax advice on social media
5. Identity theft involving IRS Online Account access
6. Abusive undistributed long-term capital gains claims
7. Bogus "Self-Employment Tax Credit" promotion
8. Ghost preparers
9. Non-cash charitable contribution schemes
10. Overstated withholding schemes using fabricated wage and withholding data
11. Spear-phishing and malware campaigns targeting tax professionals
12. Aggressive or misleading Offer in Compromise marketing — "OIC mills"

Two of those are new in character rather than kind. Voice mimicry means the old advice — "they sounded professional, they knew my name" — is worthless as a signal. And identity theft aimed at IRS Online Account access is a shift in target: the account holds your transcripts, your income history, and your bank details for direct deposit. It's worth more to a thief than a single year's refund.

Ghost preparers, and the arithmetic of a fake refund

The IRS defines a ghost preparer as someone who "prepares a return but refuses to sign it and/or refuses to include a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN)." Anyone paid to prepare returns must have a PTIN and must sign. A preparer who leaves the paid-preparer section blank is making the return look self-prepared, which puts the entire thing on you.

The business model runs on a fee taken as a share of an inflated refund. Watch how it ends:

• The preparer produces a $9,000 refund on a return that honestly supports $2,000, by fabricating withholding or inventing a business loss.
• Their fee is 20% of the refund: $1,800, taken out of the refund before you see it.
• Eight months later the IRS reverses the fabricated portion. You owe roughly $7,000 back, plus interest, plus penalties.
• The $1,800 is not coming back, and the storefront is a phone number that no longer works.

You signed the return. The liability is yours, and "my preparer did it" is not a defense to the tax itself. The IRS's other red flags for preparers are consistent with this: ones who don't sign returns, falsify information, deposit your refund into their own bank account, or require cash-only payment without giving receipts.

Two rules that eliminate most of this. Refunds go to your bank account, never the preparer's. And never sign a return you haven't read, including the refund amount and the routing number on it.

The IRS keeps a free Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications, which lists preparers who hold recognized credentials — CPAs, enrolled agents, attorneys. If free preparation covers your situation, VITA and TCE volunteers are IRS-certified and the return gets a second review before filing.

The social media genre

"Misleading tax advice on social media" and the "Self-Employment Tax Credit" promotion are the same phenomenon: a confident video describing a credit that does not exist, or exists under conditions almost nobody meets, with a link to someone who'll file it for a fee.

The test is simple and it has never failed. If a credit is real, it has a form number and a page on IRS.gov. Search the name. If the only results are videos and firms selling the service, it is not a credit. The same test kills the overstated withholding schemes — those tell you to report wages and withholding you never had, which is not a loophole, it's a false return with your signature on it.

The one thing to actually set up: an IP PIN

An Identity Protection PIN is "a six-digit number that prevents someone else from filing a tax return using your Social Security number (SSN) or individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)." Without the PIN, a return under your number is rejected.

It used to be limited to confirmed identity theft victims. Now, "anyone who has an SSN or individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) and is able to verify his/her identity is eligible to enroll," and parents and guardians can request one for dependents. It's valid for one calendar year and you get a new one each year through your IRS Online Account.

The rule that goes with it: "The IRS will never ask for your IP PIN. Phone calls, emails or texts asking for your IP PIN are scams." Your PIN goes in one place — on your tax return — and to one other person, your preparer, if you use one.

Where to report it

Reporting takes about two minutes and it's the only thing that shuts these operations down.

• Fake IRS emails: forward to phishing@irs.gov with "IRS" or "Treasury" in the subject line. Send it as an attachment if you can, since forwarding strips the headers investigators need.
• Fake IRS texts: send the sender's number, the message, your number, and the date and time to phishing@irs.gov with "Text" in the subject. Also forward the message to 7726, which is SPAM on a phone keypad.
• IRS impersonation phone calls: the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration hotline, 800-366-4484, or the report form at tigta.gov/hotline.
• General fraud: reportfraud.ftc.gov.
• A tip about a preparer or a promoter: IRS.gov/SubmitATip.

If you get a letter and can't tell whether it's genuine, look up the notice number on IRS.gov, or check your IRS Online Account, which shows your real digital notices and balances. If it still looks wrong, call 800-829-1040.

And here's the thing not to do, because it's the mistake that converts a scare into a loss: do not call the phone number printed on a letter you suspect is fake. That number is part of the letter. A convincing forgery includes a convincing call center. Look the number up independently, every time, even when the letterhead is perfect — especially then.

If you think someone has already filed using your Social Security number, our identity theft guide covers the immediate steps, and the IRS's identity theft page walks through Form 14039. Get the IP PIN first; it closes the door for next year while you're dealing with this one. (General information, not tax advice.)