Tax Season is officially over for most of the country. For those of you on extension, we look forward to seeing you soon, and getting your taxes completed as soon as possible. This was a phenomenal Tax Season for our office, and I would like to thank all of our clients for placing your trust in our firm. Below is an update for those expecting refunds, and an important fraud alert for all taxpayers.
IRS NOTICE CP53E
An interesting development has occurred this year following President Trump’s Executive Order 14247 issued last year. Titled, “Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account”, the Executive Order is pushing Americans to receive refunds, and pay taxes electronically, rather than by sending physical checks in the mail. Exact details can be found here: Executive Order Explained
Many of you may already be aware of this, but for clients that elected to receive physical checks for their refunds this year, you have probably already received an IRS Notice CP53E. CP53E Notice Explained
The IRS is making an attempt to collect your banking information in order to issue your refund via direct deposit, rather than mailing a check. The notice carries a 30 day window to provide your banking information via your IRS online account. IRS.gov/Account
If taxpayers expecting their paper check refund do not respond within that 30 day period, the IRS will proceed with issuing the refund. The direct deposit request is optional, but pursuant to the Executive Order, refunds via check will experience a processing delay.
Moving forward, we will continue to encourage more taxpayers to provide banking information during their future tax appointments for direct deposited refunds. For those clients who do not wish tax payments to be electronically withdrawn from their accounts, you will be provided with instructions to make the payment online directly with the IRS.
FRAUD ALERT
Unfortunately, these new CP53E notices have become an easy target for fraudsters to take advantage of unsuspecting taxpayers. In fact, while we have many clients that have received legitimate CP53E notices, we also have several clients that have unfortunately received fraudulent notices.
IF YOU RECEIVE ANY NOTICES FROM THE IRS OR THE STATE AGENCIES, PLEASE FORWARD A COPY OF THE NOTICE TO OUR OFFICE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BEFORE RESPONDING.
How do I know if my notice is fraudulent?
The fraudulent notices often look quite convincing. However, there are some dead giveaways that you can be aware of in order to protect yourself.
- Delivery Method: The IRS sends CP53E notices only via physical U.S. mail; any email, text, or social media message is a scam.
- Response Method: Legitimate notices require you to update bank info only through your IRS Online Account at IRS.gov/Account; they never ask for details via phone, email, or text.
- QR Codes and Links: While the IRS occasionally uses QR codes on some legitimate correspondence, fraudulent notices frequently use them to lead to phishing sites; the safest practice is to ignore all codes and links, manually typing IRS.gov into your browser instead.
- Phone Numbers: IRS employees cannot accept bank information over the phone; any request for a live agent to take details is a scam.
- Urgency and Labels: Fake notices often use threatening language, future dates, or incorrect labels like "Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU)", which do not appear on official IRS documents.
Again, please forward any notices to our office immediately upon receipt for guidance about next steps. If you have any questions or concerns, we invite you to call our office for assistance.