Received "You Have a New Notification in Your Online Account" Email from IRS - Is this Legitimate?

Just got an email from the IRS with their logo saying "You Have a New Notification in Your Online Account." The email starts with "Dear Taxpayer" and tells me to "Sign in to your account to view your notification." It also includes a line stating "You're receiving this email because you have an IRS online account. We won't initiate email contact with you without your consent." Here's the full text of the email I received: "IRS You Have a New Notification in Your Online Account Dear Taxpayer, Sign in to your account to view your notification. You're receiving this email because you have an IRS online account. We won't initiate email contact with you without your consent." The email has the IRS logo at the top. It's very simple and doesn't provide any specifics about what the notification might be about. There are no links in the email or additional text beyond what I've shared. Does anyone know if this is legitimate or if it's another scam going around? I want to be extra careful before clicking anything or logging in anywhere. Should I log into my IRS account directly through the official website instead of clicking any links in this email? Has anyone else received something similar recently?

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13 comments

Olivia Kay

The email displays classic signs of a phishing scam attempting to impersonate the IRS. The OCR shows generic greeting "Dear Taxpayer" rather than using your specific name, which is a red flag since the IRS would use your name if you actually had an online account. The line claiming "We won't initiate email contact with you without your consent" is particularly deceptive - it's trying to preemptively address suspicions while contradicting the IRS's well-known policy of never initiating contact via email. The IRS logo appears at the top of the message, but scammers commonly copy official logos to appear legitimate. The vague "You Have a New Notification" language is designed to create urgency while being non-specific - another common phishing tactic. This is absolutely a scam. The IRS communicates through official postal mail for important notifications. Never click links in emails claiming to be from the IRS. If you need to check your tax account, manually type IRS.gov into your browser and log in there directly. You can also report this phishing attempt to phishing@irs.gov.

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