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Warning: Watch for Fake IRS CP-2000 Forms in the Latest IRS Scam

Warning: Watch for Fake IRS CP-2000 Forms in the Latest IRS Scam

The IRS is alerting the American public to the latest scam being attempted by crooks. Previously scammers were sending fake IRS notices via emails in the hope that unsuspecting victims would be fooled out of their money. But following widespread publicity that the IRS does not use the internet to contact taxpayers, a new strategy is being used: the scammers are now using traditional mail to send fake notifications demanding that payment be sent to post office boxes located in a variety of cities.  Each of the fake notices provide payment addresses that are located in towns where IRS service centers exist, but use PO box addresses that are incorrect.

According to the IRS the notices that are being mailed to unsuspecting taxpayers are excellent replicas of the notices that the IRS uses: they could easily fool anybody not alerted to their existence. 

If you receive a notification from the IRS demanding that you send in a payment, stop before responding and ask yourself this question: is this the first time that the IRS has contacted you over the issue identified in the letter? If so, then there's a good chance that the request is not legitimate and was sent by a crook.

The agency has indicated that the first batch of fake IRS letters were marked with the numbers CP-2000 and strayed from legitimate CP-2000 letters in a number of ways, including:

  • An 800# that does not actually connect to the IRS.
  • A claim that the taxpayer owes money as a result of a violation of the Affordable Care Act
  • The IRS Service Center to which payments should be sent is not correct
  • The instructions in the letter indicate that the check should be made out to the I.R.S. Tax payments are made out to the U.S. Treasury.

We caution you to contact us before sending in any payments or penalties in response to one of these letters. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us for help.

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Tom Gargiulo, E.A.

Tom Gargiulo, E.A.

Tom Gargiulo, E.A. is a tand Quickbooks accounting professional based in St. Petersburg, Florida. Tom is a Member of the National Society of Tax Professionals and has been Enrolled to Practice before I.R.S. since 1986. Specializing in Quickbooks Accounting, Consulting and Training, he has many QuickBooks certifications. National Tax, Accounting & Financial is a family business started over 25 years ago. If you could summarize our firm in one word, it would be "personalization". Our firm gets to know our clients as people and uses our personalized service to best meet their needs in all facets of our business. This translates into savings for our clients. We bring unique solutions to complex problems by applying years of experience and the latest technologies. We can assist you with your tax preparation and accounting needs.

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