IRS, Security Summit launch summer series to help tax pros protect clients from identity theft as Nationwide Tax Forums begin

With new scams continuing to emerge, the Internal Revenue Service and the Security Summit partners today announced the start of the special summer Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself campaign to help tax professionals protect themselves against new and ongoing threats involving tax-related identity theft.

Now in its tenth year, the Security Summit partners continue to work together to raise awareness about data theft in the tax professional community through the Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself campaign. This campaign, which includes a series of five news releases, is part of the larger effort by the Security Summit coalition—that includes the IRS, state tax agencies and the nation’s tax community—to battle tax-related identity theft.

The news release series in conjunction with the summer Tax Forums will highlight simple actions that tax professionals can take to better protect their clients and themselves from data theft. This release (week one) focuses on new emerging scams targeting tax professionals. As part of the campaign, news releases will run every other Tuesday, coinciding with the start of the IRS Nationwide Tax Forum on July 1 in Chicago.

“The IRS, the states and the nation’s tax industry through the Security Summit partnership continue their decade-long effort to protect taxpayers,” said IRS Commissioner Billy Long. “This effort is a testament to what can be accomplished when business and government work together to educate the taxpayer and raise awareness of this wide-ranging problem.”

The partners also highlighted the value of IRS and working together on security matters.

“Reaching a ten-year milestone for the Security Summit is a testament to the collaboration of the IRS, state tax administrators, and all our industry partners in the tax ecosystem,” said Sharonne Bonardi, Executive Director of the Federation of Tax Administrators. “Protecting taxpayers and the revenue system is of utmost importance, and state tax administrators will continue to be diligent in our quest to combat criminals, fraudsters and all who attack the integrity of our systems and the people we serve.”

“One of the most critical ways to curtail scams and schemes each tax season is the real time collaboration between tax professionals, the tax software industry, and state and federal tax administrators,” said Julie Magee, Tax Policy Lead at Cash App Taxes. “We each monitor the platforms used to promote them and work to prevent people from being duped by them through shared awareness,” she added.

In addition to the news releases, tax professional security will be featured at this summer’s Nationwide Tax Forums. Following the three-day forum in Chicago, the forums will continue Aug. 5 in New Orleans, Aug. 26 in Orlando, Sept. 9 in Baltimore and Sept. 16 in San Diego.

The IRS reminds tax pros that registration deadlines are quickly approaching for several of the forums, which can sell out.

Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself – Week One: New, emerging scams targeting tax pros

The IRS and the Security Summit renewed warnings to tax professionals to stay informed of new and evolving schemes aimed at stealing business and taxpayer information.

“Tax professionals face an increasingly complex threat landscape, with identity thieves using ever more sophisticated tactics to exploit both practitioners and the sensitive data they manage,” said Taylor Rodier, Legislative Affairs Manager with Taxwell. “The stakes are high—not just for individual firms, but for the taxpayers who rely on them. Staying vigilant, informed and prepared is essential to defending taxpayer data and maintaining trust in the services these professionals provide.”

Identity thieves are taking numerous approaches to steal sensitive information from tax professionals. Tax professionals need to be on the lookout to avoid falling prey to these attacks, which threaten not just their clients but their own businesses.

• Beware of the “new client” scheme. In this form of spear phishing, fraudsters pretend to be real taxpayers seeking tax pros’ help with their taxes.
• Scams involving EFINs, PTINs, CAF numbers. Another scam circulating on a large scale this year involves phishing attempts by scammers trying to obtain various identification numbers used by tax professionals, including their Electronic Filing Identification Number or EFIN; EFIN documents; their Preparer Tax Identification Number or PTIN; and their Centralized Authorized File or CAF number.
• Watch and listen for phone, text and correspondence schemes. Several of these schemes are common right now that can target not just taxpayers, but potentially tax professionals and their clients, including:
  • The so-called Zero Tax program, in which callers promise to wipe out tax debt for people who owe back taxes. The callers request people’s Social Security numbers as part of their pitch, which they use for nefarious purposes. Tax professionals should watch out for clients reporting this scheme.
  • Social media scams circulating inaccurate or misleading tax information that can involve creating common tax documents that are false like a Form W-2 or claiming credits to which the taxpayer is not entitled such as the Fuel Tax Credit, Sick and Family Leave Credit and Household Employment Credits.
  • Scammers reaching out by phone or text message to dupe people into handing over sensitive financial information in exchange for a false promise of IRS money for them.
  • Use of Artificial intelligence or AI. Scammers will use AI to create fake IRS letters that are mailed to victims.

Ways to avoid and report scams

For tax professionals who discover they are victims of a security breach, they should contact their local IRS Stakeholder Liaisonto report a theft. The IRS Stakeholder Liaison will ensure the appropriate IRS offices are alerted. If incidents are reported quickly, the IRS can take steps to block fraudulent returns in the clients’ names and will assist tax pros through the process.

Tax professionals can also share information with the appropriate state tax agency by visiting the Report a Data Breach page hosted by the Federation of Tax Administrators.

Tax professionals should also understand the Federal Trade Commission’s Data Breach Response requirements PDF as part of their overall information and data security plan.

Highlights of the remaining summer campaign

• Week two: Phishing, spear phishing, whaling and the “Security Six”. This news release highlights phishing scams and what the scams might look like. It also provides information on the “Security Six” protections to combat these directed attacks.
• Week three: Create a security plan. The release details the Written Information Security Plan PDF that tax pros must have to keep customer and business information safe and secure.
• Week four: Tools to help Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself. This release covers Multi-factor Authentication, IP PINs, IRS Online Accounts, Tax Pro Accounts and more on resources to safeguard taxpayers’ information.
• Week five: Signs of identity theft and reporting theft. The final release in the summer series focuses on the most common security threat—identity theft.

Source: IRS-2025-73, July 1, 2025