Twelve ways people lose money or get into trouble, and the habits that stop nearly all of them.
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 doesn’t exist; a few are preparers who put their clients at risk. The 2026 list, released March 5, 2026, is below with a plain explanation of each, then how the IRS actually contacts people and what to do if something has already gone wrong.
Current as of October 2026 · 2026 list
In the order the IRS listed them.
A message says your refund is waiting or a payment is overdue and asks you to scan a code or click a link to a site that looks like IRS.gov and collects your Social Security number and bank login.
How to spot it: the IRS never starts a conversation by email or text.
The voice is calm and official, the caller ID says “IRS,” and the message is urgent: pay today or a warrant issues.
How to spot it: threats of arrest or any demand for payment by phone. Caller ID proves nothing.
Within hours of a flood or fire, solicitations appear with names close to real charities. The money disappears, and the gift isn’t deductible because the organization doesn’t exist.
How to spot it: pressure to give right now, and a name missing from the tax-exempt organization search at IRS.gov.
Videos promise a big refund by claiming a credit you’ve “never heard of” or inventing a household employee. The refund becomes a bill with penalties.
How to spot it: if it works for everyone regardless of their situation, it isn’t a tax rule.
A helpful stranger offers to create your IRS Online Account. With the login, they have your tax records and can redirect your refund.
How to spot it: no one needs to set up your account for you. Do it yourself at IRS.gov.
Form 2439 is a real but rare form from a mutual fund showing tax it paid on your behalf. Scammers attach made-up ones to claim credit for tax never paid.
How to spot it: a preparer wants to attach a Form 2439 and you don’t recognize the fund.
Promoters claim anyone self-employed during the pandemic years can collect a large credit. There is no such credit; the real ones they are twisting were narrow and are long expired.
How to spot it: the name. Search IRS.gov for it and you find only the warning.
Someone prepares your return for a fee and has you file it as if you did it yourself. If it’s wrong, the only name on it is yours.
How to spot it: a blank paid-preparer section or a fee based on the refund. More below.
A promoter sells you an interest in land or artwork, arranges an appraisal at several times what you paid, and you deduct the inflated value.
How to spot it: a deduction worth more than you put in. Real charity never pays for itself.
A return claims wages and withholding no employer reported, hoping the refund issues before the IRS matches the forms. It doesn’t; the return is frozen.
How to spot it: anyone suggesting you “adjust” a W-2.
Criminals pose as new clients and send an attachment that installs software to steal an office’s client files. Aimed at us, not you, but your data is the prize.
How to spot it: ask your preparer how documents are exchanged. Email is the weak point.
An offer in compromise is a real IRS program that settles a debt for less when the taxpayer genuinely cannot pay. The mills advertise “settle for pennies,” collect fees up front, and file applications the IRS rejects.
How to spot it: a guarantee before anyone has looked at your finances. We handle back taxes without the sales pitch.
Nearly every impersonation scam fails this test.
| The IRS does | The IRS never |
|---|---|
| Send a letter by U.S. mail first, with a notice number in the corner | Starts contact by email, text or social media |
| Call or visit only after letters have gone unanswered | Demands immediate payment over the phone |
| Accept payment by check to the U.S. Treasury or through IRS.gov | Asks for gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency or prepaid cards |
| Give you the right to appeal | Threatens arrest, deportation or loss of a license |
A letter that looks real can be checked: look up the notice number at IRS.gov or bring it to us.
Don’t click, scan, reply, or call the number in it. Look up the IRS number yourself at IRS.gov, or call us at 303-734-1040.
Forward phishing emails to phishing@irs.gov, report other schemes at IRS.gov/SubmitATip and identity theft at IRS.gov/idtheft. Then mention it to family; a neighbor gets the same call next week.
It is fixable. It takes paperwork, not shame.
If someone filed a return in your name, you usually find out when your own return is rejected as a duplicate. File Form 14039, the Identity Theft Affidavit, with your real return on paper. If Letter 5071C or 4883C arrives asking you to verify your identity, respond; that letter is real and means the IRS stopped a suspicious return.
Then get an Identity Protection PIN. It is a six-digit number, new each January, that must appear on any return filed under your Social Security number. A return without it is rejected, which shuts the door on anyone filing as you. The fastest way is through your IRS Online Account. How to get an IP PIN.
If you paid a scammer, report it to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the Federal Trade Commission. 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.
The one item on the list where the damage is done by the person you hired.
Anyone paid to prepare a return must by law sign it and enter a Preparer Tax Identification Number, or PTIN. A ghost preparer doesn’t. The return is filed as self-prepared, so when the IRS finds the inflated deductions, the only name on it is yours.
Before you hand over your W-2s, look the preparer up in the IRS directory of credentialed preparers, where Enrolled Agents, CPAs and attorneys are listed. Ask how the fee is set; a percentage of the refund is a warning sign. Have the refund deposited to your account, never theirs. And on the finished return, the paid-preparer section at the bottom of page two should have a name, a signature and a PTIN. Every return we prepare is signed by an Enrolled Agent.
When a new client brings in last year’s return, we read the paid-preparer box before anything else. Blank, on a return claiming a home office, large charitable gifts and a fuel-tax credit, tells us the prior preparer was a ghost and the return probably needs amending before the IRS asks. We also check whether the refund went to the client’s own bank account; when it didn’t, the client usually never saw all of it.
Same scams, different letterhead.
The Colorado Department of Revenue also writes first, never texts or emails demanding payment, and never asks for gift cards. Its letters carry a letter ID you can check in Revenue Online at tax.colorado.gov. Colorado has no separate IP PIN; protecting the federal return protects the state return.
Rarely, and only after writing to you, usually several times. A first contact by phone is a scam. Hang up.
Yes. The only cost is remembering to give us the new number each January.
The program is real; the guarantee isn’t. Qualifying depends on your income, expenses and assets, and most people who owe can pay over time. Back taxes and payment plans.
Bring the letter, the email, or the voicemail. We’d rather look at ten false alarms than have one client pay a scammer. In person in Lone Tree or remotely, year round.
This page is general information, current as of October 2026, and is not advice about your situation. Tax law changes every year. Confirm anything that matters to you with us or at the sources below.