Tax season brings a wave of texts and emails that look like they are from the IRS. Some say you have a refund waiting. Others say there is a problem with your return, or that you owe money right now.
None of them are really from the IRS. This is one of the busiest times of year for scammers, because millions of people are thinking about taxes and refunds at the same time, and a fake refund message is easy to believe.
This guide covers the text and email scams that show up specifically during filing season: fake refund alerts, phishing emails that copy tax software brands, and messages about your tax return. It is different from phone call scams, which we cover in our guide on IRS and Social Security scam calls. By the end, you will know exactly what a fake IRS text or email looks like and what to do with it.
How can I tell if an IRS text or refund email is a scam?
Any text or email that claims to be the IRS is a scam, because the IRS never starts contact that way. The real IRS almost always reaches out first by mailing a paper notice through the postal service. It does not send a first message by text, and it does not email you out of nowhere about a refund or a balance due.
That one fact clears up most of the confusion. If a message about your taxes shows up in your texts or your inbox, and you were not already working with the IRS through the mail, treat it as fake. This applies whether the message claims you have a refund, a debt, or a document that needs “verification.”
Plain talk: smishing
Smishing is phishing done by text message (SMS) instead of email. Scammers send a fake link and hope you tap it without thinking.
What a fake IRS refund text or email looks like
Scam messages during tax season tend to follow a pattern. Watch for these signs:
- A claim that you have an “unclaimed refund” or a refund is “on hold”
- Urgent language, like “respond within 24 hours” or “your refund will be cancelled”
- A link to a website that is not irs.gov, often with extra words or misspellings in the address
- A request to confirm your Social Security number, bank account, or debit card number
- Poor grammar, odd spacing, or a sender name that does not match a government address
- A message sent from a phone number, not a short government code
According to the IRS’s Tax Scams/Consumer Alerts page, fraudsters commonly send messages about “unclaimed refunds” and ask victims to share photos of documents or bank details to “process” the payment. That is the opposite of how a real refund works. A genuine refund is deposited automatically once your return is processed. Nobody needs to text you first. For a wider look at the payment methods scammers push once they have you talking, see our guide on gift card, bitcoin ATM and cash courier red flags.
Safety tip
Never tap a link in a text or email about your taxes, even if the name on the message says “IRS” or “Tax Refund Dept.” Go to IRS.gov yourself by typing the address, instead of tapping anything sent to you.
Tax prep phishing: fake TurboTax, H&R Block and e-file emails
Filing season also brings a second kind of scam: emails that copy the look of real tax software or a tax preparer, not the IRS itself. These messages might say your account needs “verification,” your e-file was “rejected,” or there is an issue with your payment.
The goal is the same as an IRS text scam: get you to click a link, land on a fake login page, and type in your username and password. Once scammers have that, they can access anything saved in your real account, including past tax returns full of personal information.
To stay safe with these:
- Do not click the link in the email.
- Open a new browser tab and type the company’s real address yourself (for example, turbotax.com).
- Log in there and check for any real messages or alerts.
- If something still looks wrong, call the company using the number on their official site, not a number from the email.
Try this
If you are not sure whether a tax prep email is real, forward it to a family member before you click anything. A second set of eyes often spots the scam in seconds.
What about calls demanding gift cards?
Some tax season scams still arrive as phone calls, with someone claiming to be an IRS agent demanding immediate payment. That version is covered in detail in our guide on IRS and Social Security scam calls, since it works differently from a text or email scam. The short version: the real IRS does not call out of nowhere to demand payment, and it never asks for gift cards.
Safety tip
The IRS never asks for payment by gift card, wire transfer, or prepaid debit card, whether the request comes by phone, text, or email. Any message asking for payment this way is a scam, every time.
Real IRS contact compared to a scam message
| What you see | Really the IRS | Likely a scam |
|---|---|---|
| First contact method | A letter mailed to your address | A text, email, or social media message |
| Tone | Neutral, states facts and next steps | Urgent, threatens a deadline or penalty |
| Refund info | Checked only by you, on IRS.gov | Sent to you unprompted, with a link |
| Payment requests | Options listed on IRS.gov, never gift cards | Gift cards, prepaid cards, wire transfer, cryptocurrency |
| Links | You go to irs.gov yourself | A link is sent to you to click |
What to do if you get a suspicious tax text or email
- Do not click any link or open any attachment.
- Do not reply, even to say “stop” or “unsubscribe.”
- Take a screenshot in case you need it later.
- Forward a phishing email to [email protected].
- Forward a suspicious text to [email protected] with the subject line “Text,” then forward the same text to 7726 (SPAM) so your carrier can block similar numbers.
- Delete the message.
- If you want to know your real refund status, go to IRS.gov and use the Where’s My Refund tool, entering your details yourself rather than through any link.
This matches the IRS’s own reporting instructions, and it takes about five minutes from start to finish. For scams that do not fit the IRS specifically, our guide on where to report a scam covers the right agency for each country. Our Scam-Stopper Kit (free when you join our email letter) includes a printable checklist that covers this exact situation, so it is ready before the next fake refund text arrives.
Say this
“Before I do anything with this, can you take a look and tell me if it seems real?” Say this to an adult child or a trusted family member any time a tax text or email makes you pause, even for a second.
If you already clicked or replied
If you tapped a link and it opened a page asking for information, close it without typing anything in, if you can. If you already entered your Social Security number, bank details, or a password:
- Follow the step by step checklist in our guide on what to do after clicking a scam link.
- Contact your bank if you shared any account or card numbers.
- Consider a credit freeze using our guide on freezing your credit after a scam, especially if you shared your Social Security number.
- Report tax related identity theft through IdentityTheft.gov, which the FTC uses to generate an IRS identity theft affidavit and a recovery plan for you, according to the FTC’s guidance on tax identity theft.
None of this means you did anything wrong. These messages are designed by professional scammers to look convincing, and acting quickly afterward is what actually limits the damage.
Similar text scams to watch for this time of year
Fake IRS refund texts are not the only smishing message going around. The same pattern (urgent message, fake link, request for personal details) shows up in other guises too, including the unpaid toll text scam and fake package delivery texts. If you can spot one, you can spot all of them, because the setup is nearly always the same three ingredients: urgency, a link, and a request for information.
Where to go from here
Tax season scams rely on catching people off guard during a stressful few weeks. Once you know the IRS never opens with a text or an email, most of these messages lose their power immediately. Our book, Scam-Proof, walks through this kind of scam and many others in the same plain, step by step way, so you have a reference ready before the next one shows up.
