Knock, Knock. Who’s there? Tips for determining if it’s really the IRS at your door.

A man walks through the front door of your business claiming he is an IRS agent and demanding that you pay immediately for an overdue tax bill. Your breathing begins to quicken, your heart beats faster as the stress begins to overcome you; however, you have no idea that this man is an imposter. He is a con man that has assumed the identity of someone we trust in order to swindle you out of your hard-earned money. We wish this was a scene from a movie, but sadly, incidents like this continue to be prevalent throughout the country.

According to a report issued annually by the Federal Trade Commission, of the nearly three million cases of fraud reported in 2018, the top two categories were imposter scams at 17.88% and debt collection at 15.88%

While the IRS won’t always come knocking at your door, there are some legitimate reasons why you may receive a visit from an Internal Revenue Agent. Visits from the IRS typically fall into one of three categories:

• IRS revenue officers will sometimes make unannounced visits to a taxpayer’s home or place of business to discuss taxes owed or tax returns due.
• IRS revenue agents will sometimes visit a taxpayer who is being audited.
• IRS criminal investigators may visit a taxpayer’s home or place of business unannounced while conducting an investigation.

Secondly, understand that even though an IRS agent may visit your home or place of business for one of the reasons listed above, there are still procedures and protocols that he or she must follow. The first point is especially important because it helps you to verify that the IRS agent is who he or she says they are.

• An IRS representative will always provide two forms of official credentials called a pocket commission and a HSPD-12 card. HSPD-12 is a government-wide standard for secure and reliable forms of identification for federal employees and contractors. You have the right to see these credentials. And if you would like to verify information on the representative’s HSPD-12 card, the representative will provide you with a dedicated IRS telephone number for verifying the information and confirming their identity.
• An IRS collection employee will never demand that you make an immediate payment to a source other than the U.S. Treasury.
• IRS employees conducting audits must first attempt to notify individuals by mail to set up an appointment or discuss items with the taxpayer. If the IRS employee receives no response by mail, then he or she will call the taxpayer directly. The IRS employee will not show up unannounced.
• IRS criminal investigators may visit a taxpayer unannounced; however, they will not demand any sort of payment.

If you do have an IRS agent visit you unannounced at your home or place of business, you should first verify the agent’s identity by verifying his or her credentials. An IRS telephone number should be provided to you by the agent. If you are not satisfied with the IRS agent’s identity or credentials, contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484.