The official start to the 2024 tax filing season is just a few days away, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a warning about scams that could cost victims big money.
Before gathering all the necessary documents to file a 2023 return, there is a new scam making the rounds online. It involves an email featuring the IRS logo regarding the “third round of economic impact payments," calling it an "important matter regarding your recent tax return filing.”
It goes on to state that "we have identified certain inconsistencies or missing information" and promises recipients "you will receive a refund of $976 once you have submitted the document we need."
There is also a button that says "complete my information" — but IRS Media Relations Specialist Robert Marvin warns: Don’t click on that link.
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"It's hard to imagine what someone's going to come up with next as a scam," he told NBC New York.
One noticeable red flag: inconsistencies. For example, at the very bottom of the email with the IRS logo, the name of a different agency appears, the U.S. Small Business Administration.
"Look for strange versions and spellings of IRS. Watch out in the body of the email for typos, misspellings, and things that don't look normal in business correspondence," Marvin advised.
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The agency said there is one hard and fast rule to always keep in mind, and it has to do with how the IRS contacts individuals.
"The IRS does not initiate with taxpayers, request for information through email, through text or social media, we just don't do business that way," said Marvin. "When we're requesting for information we use the U.S. mail."
And when in doubt, go straight to the source: the official IRS website.
"Really the best for taxpayers is our website, irs.gov. And that’s really the place to go to get information from the IRS," Marvin said.
