
Despite repeated warnings, scammers impersonating IRS employees continue to find new victims. Because of this, the IRS will stop calling people to tell them their return has been selected for an in-person field audit, and will notify taxpayers exclusively by mail, said
Accounting Today. It is hoped that this will cut down on confusion over whether someone calling on the phone is a genuine IRS employee or a scammer targeting their latest victim. What the IRS will do instead is first send the taxpayer a mailing notifying them that their return has been selected for audit, and only then contact them to schedule an appointment. With this new policy in place, anyone calling on the phone to tell them of an in-person field audit is almost certainly a liar, provided there has been no prior mailer notifying them ahead of time.