A new scam is being circulated to taxpayers:

The IRS has warned that a new scam uses fraudulent notices (CP-2000 letters) to try and extract money from taxpayers. These fraudulent notices look convincing. The balance due amounts are generally low enough that taxpayers may be inclined to pay the amount requested rather than contact their accountants.  

DO NOT PAY any amount requested on a notice without contacting us to be sure that the request is legitimate and correct. If an unexpected balance due is received from the IRS, please call us immediately to verify the correspondence.

The fake CP-2000 letters have small differences that are telltale signs of fraud, such as:

• - The request is to make out a check payable to the I.R.S., rather than United States Treasury.
• - The return address is "Austin Processing Center, P.O. Box 15264, Austin, TX  78761-5264.” This is not the correct address that is listed on the IRS website for the Austin Processing Center.

Call us in Brea, 714.990.1040 or Visalia, 559.732.4135 if you have questions about correspondence or other contact from someone claiming to be the IRS. It is better to be safe, than scammed.