As I’ve posted before on taxgirl.com, the IRS does not send unsolicited e-mails to taxpayers. If you receive an e-mail purporting to be from the IRS, it’s likely a scam. Be careful. Most of these scams try to get you to reveal your personal or financial information. Do not reveal any of this information via e-mail. Don’t follow any links from these e-mails to any web sites where you might be asked for the same information.
Other e-mails may have attachments or links which download viruses or other malware onto your computer. Some of this malware has the potential to “lift” financial and other personal information from your computer. The best solution? If you see any of these e-mails, just hit delete.
Finally, remember that the IRS web site is located at http://www.irs.gov. That’s right, .gov. Not .com, .edu, .org, .net, .info, .tv or anything else.
Be smart this season.
These scam e-mails become more and more “popular”. I work in a company providing tax refunds for foreigners and we often get calls from clients who say they received an e-mail form the IRS and what should they do with it.
You should forward any suspecious e-mail to the IRS: phishing@irs.gov