Their checks to the U.S. Treasury were cashed nearly a year ago. But taxpayers say they’re now receiving letters from the Internal Revenue Service asking them to immediately file their 2020 federal income tax returns.
Yes, copies of their 2020 returns. Yes, the same paper returns they filed last spring.
“Please file today,” the letter begins. “Send your signed return to the address shown above. We’ll assign the credit to the tax you owe and refund any over payment if you owe no other taxes or obligations.”
Is this another scam?
Yes, some readers who contacted me wondered whether this could be some sort of scam.
“It wasn’t a text message. It wasn’t an email. It was a letter,” said Anne Hovell, 72, who recently received the IRS letter dated Jan. 24.
According to the letter sent to the couple in Gibraltar, the credit on their account is $1,056. The IRS letter warns that there can be more problems ahead “if we don’t hear from you.”
“If you don’t file your return or contact us,” the form letter says, “you may lose this credit. The Internal Revenue Code sets strict time limits for refunding or transferring credits.”
Hovell, who keeps track of transactions in her checking account, knows the money cleared a year ago and she recognized that the amount listed as a credit is what she paid in taxes.
“If a check doesn’t clear, I follow up,” she said. “It did clear.”
Hovell, who retired as a consultant for a tech company, knows that scammers often use email or texts. But she wondered…
