The Internal Revenue Service has issued an alert to taxpayers and tax professionals to be on guard against Fake Affordable Care Act Tax Bills by e-mail purporting to contain an IRS tax bill related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The IRS has received numerous reports around the country of scammers sending fraudulent versions of CP2000 notices for tax year 2015. Generally, the scam involves an e-mail that includes a fake CP2000 as an attachment.
The fraudulent notices have the following characteristics:
- These notices are being sent electronically, even though the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by e-mail or through social media platforms;
- The CP2000 notices appear to be issued from an Austin, Texas, address; · The underreported issue is related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requesting information regarding 2014 coverage; and
- The payment voucher lists the letter number as 105C.
The fraudulent CP2000 notices include a payment request that taxpayers mail a check made out to “I.R.S.” to the “Austin Processing Center” at a Post Office Box address. This is in addition to a “payment” link within the e-mail itself.
A genuine CP2000 is generated by the IRS Automated Underreporter Program when income reported from third-party sources such as an employer does not match the income reported on the tax return. This notice is commonly mailed to taxpayers through the U.S. Postal Service, and is NEVER sent as part of an e-mail to taxpayers. To determine if a received CP2000 notice is real, the IRS recommends you visit its Understanding Your CP2000 Notice page, which includes an image of a real notice (top, right-hand column, labeled “Printable samples of this notice (PDF).”
Taxpayers or tax professionals who receive this scam e-mail should forward it to [email protected] and then delete it from their e-mail account. Label in subject line “Fake Affordable Care Act Tax Bills”
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