Strange Call

[Jiggers]

The IRS does NOT initiate contact with a taxpayer via telephone nor via email. (They will continue correspondence if the taxpayer initiated contact via telephone or email.) Do not respond.

A few years back one client received a telephone call from an IRS auditor advising him that his return was selected for an audit and that he would be sending the required letter. He did get the required letter. This was the first time that I had a client called before receiving the audit letter.

A second client received a phone call from the IRS inquiring as to why there was no large payroll tax deposit for the previous month's payroll. Back in the days of taking them to the bank. The response was that the business had closed two months before!

Both calls were from the IRS and no notices were sent in advance.

[Koss]

Telephone Scam

That call is definitely a scam. No automated message from the IRS would ever direct a taxpayer to call a cell phone.

Here's an IRS press release about telephone scams:

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-...Telephone-Scam

The story referenced by DonB, in which the professor received a phone call to inform her that she would be audited, is interesting. The entire context suggests that the audit was politically motivated. In any case, it was followed by a bona fide letter from the IRS.

In the link that I provided above, the IRS says that "the first IRS contact with taxpayers on a tax issue is likely to occur via mail."

I can see an ordinary, run-of-the-mill auditor making first contact by phone if the taxpayer failed to respond to a letter containing an appointment. That might happen if the guy moved and never filed a change of address. But it wouldn't be an automated message, and he certainly wouldn't give the guy his cell phone number.

BMK

[DonB]

It sounds like your situation is fraud. But---Obama critic Dr. Anne Hendershott claims IRS audit started with a phone call.

http://www.catholic.org/news/politics/story.php?id=50966

[BHoffman]

Strange call indeed!

[Lion]

The IRS does NOT initiate contact with a taxpayer via telephone nor via email. (They will continue correspondence if the taxpayer initiated contact via telephone or email.) Do not respond.

[TXEA]

This is likely a scam. If the client is not receiving delinquency notices and notices of intent to levy, it is very doubtful they will receive a call from the IRS - especially on a Saturday.

It takes a while in the collection process before a local agent will call or show up at the client's office or home.

[RightOn]

You can probably find out if it is a valid IRS phone number. And then YOU might want to call the number and ask them just who they are? You may get an impression from their response.

The number that the person left is a local cell phone number.

And I have just found out from my client that it was not even a live person who called him. When he picked up the phone, it was a recording message which told him he had serious tax issues and had to call the cell phone number. Then it just disconnected. The more I think about it, the more suspicious the call seems to me.

[appelman]

I would be very dubious.

You can probably find out if it is a valid IRS phone number. And then YOU might want to call the number and ask them just who they are? You may get an impression from their response.

[RightOn]

First off be sure your client doesn't have a serious tax problem. No one gets a phone call from the IRS without having received several letters each more threatening than the previous one. Do they have a balance due? Have they received a letter? If not, then it is likely a scam. Did the agent give a badge number? Better scammers will give one now but it often doesn't have the right number of digits.

Is it a standard policy that the caller has to leave a badge number? I think the person who called my client this morning did not leave one.

[DaveO]

First off be sure your client doesn't have a serious tax problem. No one gets a phone call from the IRS without having received several letters each more threatening than the previous one. Do they have a balance due? Have they received a letter? If not, then it is likely a scam. Did the agent give a badge number? Better scammers will give one now but it often doesn't have the right number of digits.

[RightOn]

What do you think as a tax professional?

Whatever you think, proceed.

Before I proceed, should I verify if the person is legitimate or not? It could well be an identity theft case.

I asked this question here just want to know if anyone whose clients have similar experience.

[mastertaxguy]

What do you think as a tax professional?

Whatever you think, proceed.

[RightOn]

Client called me. He said someone claimed to be working for the IRS left him a phone message. That person said my client has serious tax issue and should call him back.

Does the IRS contact taxpayer in this way? And do they even work on Saturday?