The IRS and its Security Summit partners have issued an alert to taxpayers to beware of fake emails claiming to contain an IRS tax bill related to the Affordable Care Act.

The IRS has received numerous reports around the country of scammers emailing a fraudulent version of CP2000 notices for tax year 2015. The CP2000 is a notice commonly mailed to taxpayers through the United States Postal Service. It is never sent as part of an email to taxpayers. The indicators are:

• These notices are being sent electronically, even though the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email or through social media platforms;
• The CP 2000 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;
• The payment voucher lists the letter number as 105C.

The fraudulent CP2000 notice included 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 email itself.

Taxpayers or tax professionals who receive this scam email should forward it to phishing@irs.gov and then delete it from their email account.

For more information, or to determine if a CP2000 notice you received in the mail is real, visit www.irs.gov.

Source: www.irs.gov, IR-2016-123

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