For most Missourians, the end of the income tax filing season usually means the end of contact with the Internal Revenue Service – at least until next year. But some Missourians are receiving letters from the IRS – or at least from people claiming to be connected to the IRS – asking for personal information. The warning from the Internal Revenue Service is that people should not provide personal information such as Social Security numbers to anyone asking for that information.
Michael Devine, IRS Media Relations Specialist for Missouri & Kansas, points out the IRS already has your Social Security number and other pertinent tax information and will not contact you for that kind of information.
“There are always scams, especially after filing season, having to do with refunds and people trying to trick you into giving away information to get your refund – and this is not how we do business,” said Devine. “If the IRS has a question about your tax return we’re going to send you a letter and that’s the first time you’re going to hear from us.”
And nobody from the IRS will call you on the phone or send an e-mail to obtain information.
“It’s not going to be an e-mail. It’s not going to be a phone call,” said Devine. “We’re going to send you a letter explaining what the question we have is and then give you a number and a name to call so that you know who to contact in the IRS to settle any questions that we might have.”
The bottom line here is that Missourians should not provide information to anyone calling on the phone or requesting information via e-mail – and a letter asking you for information the IRS should already have is probably a scam, too.
“We’ve had reports that a lot of people are receiving official looking e-mails that claim to come from the IRS,” said Devine. “And basically these are crooks trying to steal your personal information.”
Devine says the Internal Revenue Service has identified nearly 1400 unique phishing sites that use the IRS logo or otherwise purport to come from the IRS. You can verify whether a contact is legitimate or report a possible scam by contacting the IRS at 1-800-829-1040.
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