Can I find out the source of unreported income the IRS claims in their letter?

The IRS should have sent you a CP2000 notice which typically includes some details about the unreported income, but sometimes they don't provide the specific source. You can get this information in a few ways: First, you can request a "Wage and Income Transcript" from the IRS which will show all income reported to them under your SSN for 2022. This will include any W-2s, 1099s, etc. that were filed with your info. You can get this online through the IRS website by creating an account at irs.gov/transcripts or by filing Form 4506-T. Another option is to call the IRS at the number on your notice. Yes, wait times can be long, but an agent can tell you exactly what income they're referring to. Make sure to have the notice and your 2022 tax return handy when you call. Also check if you received any 1099 forms you might have overlooked - sometimes they come in regular mail and look like junk, or might have been sent to an old address.

I went through this exact nightmare last year! After wasting days trying to figure out what "unreported income" they were talking about, I found this service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me figure it out in like 30 minutes. They analyzed my notice and tax documents and found that a previous employer had filed a corrected W-2 that I never received, showing about $3k more in income than what was on my original W-2. The service lets you upload your tax documents and IRS notice, then their system breaks down exactly what's happening in plain English. Saved me hours of digging through forms and trying to decipher what the IRS was talking about. They even explained my options for resolving it.

I wanted to follow up about taxr.ai since I was the skeptical one in the thread. After getting nowhere with the IRS for two weeks, I decided to try it. Turns out I had completely forgotten about a freelance project I did in 2022 where the client filed a 1099-NEC. The taxr.ai system immediately identified the discrepancy between what was reported to the IRS and what was on my return. I was honestly surprised at how straightforward it was. The report showed exactly what forms were missing and even calculated what I actually owed, which was less than what the IRS claimed because they hadn't accounted for the business expenses I could deduct against that income. Definitely worth it for the peace of mind and clarity.

After getting a similar notice last year, I spent WEEKS trying to get through to an IRS agent. Every time I called I'd wait for over an hour and then get disconnected. So frustrating! Eventually found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. You basically register on their site, and they handle the hold time for you and call you back when they have an IRS agent on the line. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. Once I finally got through to an agent, they told me exactly which 1099 was missing from my return (turned out to be from an old investment account I'd forgotten about).

I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After another failed attempt calling the IRS myself (2 hours on hold before getting disconnected!), I tried Claimyr out of desperation. It actually worked exactly as advertised. I got a call back in about 35 minutes with an IRS agent already on the line. The agent was able to tell me immediately that I had a 1099-INT from a closed bank account that I never received in the mail. It was for interest income of about $2,800 that I genuinely didn't know about. Just knowing what the issue was made it so much easier to resolve. I'm still annoyed at having to pay extra to talk to a government agency, but man, the time and frustration it saved me was worth every penny.

Another option nobody mentioned is pulling your credit report. I've had situations where income was misreported under my SSN, and reviewing all accounts on my credit report helped me identify where the error might have come from. Sometimes it's a company you forgot about or an account that was opened fraudulently.

If you filed with tax software like TurboTax or H&R Block, sometimes they offer audit support or tax notice assistance. Check if your filing package included this - they might help you figure out the discrepancy without additional cost.