New IRS scams continue to surface in an attempt to take your money or personal information. Deceitful communications come via phone, email, post and sometimes even a knock on your door. It’s important to know that the IRS does occasionally contact taxpayers, but when they do, it’s most often by mail.

Sometimes the IRS needs to verify a taxpayer’s identity and will do so by sending a Letter 5071C. This occurs when the IRS stops a suspicious tax return that contains a real taxpayer’s name and/or social security number but is flagged for identity theft. Taxpayers who receive requests from the IRS to verify their identity should use the Identity Verification Service website at idverify.irs.gov. This is the fastest and easiest way to complete the task. If you receive Letter 5071C, please contact me so that I can help you answer the series of questions about your identity and tax return history.

Once the IRS verifies your identity, you can confirm whether you filed the return in question. If you did not file the return, the IRS can take steps to assist you. If you did file the return, the IRS will need approximately six weeks to process it and issue a refund.

If you receive an email, letter or phone call and you’re in doubt as to whether it’s from the IRS, contact me so we can determine if the correspondence is real or simply an attempt to steal your identity.