IRS Identity Letter 5071C

Apr 24, 2015

The IRS has been dealing with an increasing wave of tax scams this year in which fraudsters have been leaving messages on taxpayers’ phones claiming to be from the IRS demanding payment, and have been sending phishing emails to taxpayers purporting to come from the IRS. On Thursday, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen met with leaders of several of the major tax software companies, tax preparation chains, state tax commissioners and other officials to coordinate an approach to deal with identity theft. In an effort to protect taxpayers from identity theft, the IRS is releasing the Identity Letter 5071C to taxpayers whose return is deemed “suspicious” upon filing.

The letter asks taxpayers to verify their identity in order to complete processing of their return if the taxpayer did file it or reject the return if the taxpayer did not file it. The letter gives taxpayers two options to contact the IRS and confirm whether or not they filed the return. Taxpayers may use the idverify.irs.gov site or call the toll-free number provided in the letter. Due to the high-volume on the toll-free numbers, the IRS-sponsored website, idverify.irs.gov, is the safest, fastest option for taxpayers with web access.

The website will ask a series of questions that only the real taxpayer can answer. Taxpayers should have available their prior year tax return and their current year tax return; if they filed one, including supporting documents, such as Forms W-2 and 1099 and Schedules A and C.

Please note that the IRS does not request such information via email, nor will the IRS call a taxpayer directly to ask this information without you receiving a letter first. The letter-number can be found in the upper corner of the page. If you have questions regarding your letter, please visit the IRS website.

Categories: Uncategorized