Is That Really the IRS? How to Verify an IRS Employee's Identity

Two things are true at once. IRS impersonation scams are everywhere. And real IRS employees do sometimes call, write and show up in person.

The IRM acknowledges both. It tells Revenue Officers that skeptical taxpayers may call the police on them, and tells them exactly how to prove who they are. You can use the same rules to decide whether the person in front of you is real.

What the IRM says about scams

IRM 5.1.10.3 (rev. 2025-04-24) says it directly: the public's trust in the IRS has been affected by the rise of IRS impersonation scams, which take many forms, such as phone calls, letters and emails, in which impersonators may threaten or intimidate taxpayers. It says field employees may face additional scrutiny or safety concerns because taxpayers suspect they are not legitimate, and that skeptical taxpayers may contact local police despite being shown IRS identification.

The IRM does not treat that suspicion as a problem to overcome. It treats it as reasonable and tells employees how to answer it.

Two forms of identification

IRM 5.1.10.3 says that when performing field activities, Revenue Officers must carry their authorized pocket commission and HSPD-12 identification to verify their identity.

The IRS's current consumer guidance, the How to know it's the IRS page on IRS.gov, says the same thing: Revenue Officers, Revenue Agents and Fuel Inspectors carry an IRS-issued credential, called a pocket commission, and an HSPD-12 card.

IRM 5.1.10.2 adds that officers should use their official identification when identifying themselves and should not let anyone copy their credentials. So a real officer will show you the credentials, but may decline to let you photocopy them. That is a rule, not a red flag.

How to verify

IRM 5.1.10.2 tells officers to carry Document 13345, IRS Field Employee Verification Phone Numbers, to appointments and other field activity, and to provide it to taxpayers, representatives or law enforcement who wish to verify their credentials.

IRM 5.1.10.3 says that if taxpayers or local law enforcement ask for a contact to verify identity, the officer should direct them to call the IRS Situational Awareness Management Center at the number listed on Document 13345. The IRS.gov page says that if the person does not show you these IDs, or you are not sure about them, you should call the number on the card provided by the revenue officer or agent, and that to confirm an appointment you should call the phone number on your letter.

Here is the practical rule. Ask for both credentials. Ask for the verification number. Then, if you have any doubt, also check the number against official IRS sources before you rely on it, because a fake employee can hand you a fake number.

What a real contact usually looks like

Real collection contact follows patterns. The IRM requires the initial Revenue Officer contact to be scheduled by appointment letter or phone and generally not at your home or business, with unannounced visits limited to serving a summons, seizures and similar enforcement or approved by an area director. I cover that in Revenue Officer Initial Contact. The IRS.gov guidance is consistent: it says unannounced visits are rare, that the IRS generally sends a letter before it visits and that Revenue Officers visit if multiple attempts to contact you go unanswered. An unannounced visit is not proof of fraud by itself, but it is a reason to verify carefully.

Real Revenue Officer letters also have names and numbers. IRM 5.1.10.5 lists the pre-printed letters officers use, such as Letter 725-B to schedule an appointment with a taxpayer, Letter 725-D for a representative, Letter 728 to provide a balance and Letter 4222 to notify a taxpayer of case resolution. If a letter claims to be from a Revenue Officer, the letter number is worth checking.

IRM 5.1.10.5 says all correspondence to taxpayers must include the employee's title, last name, employee identification number and telephone number. A letter that lacks those details deserves a closer look.

On payment, the IRS.gov page says Revenue Officers accept in-person payment by cash, check, certified funds or money order payable to United States Treasury, and that you can also pay online. Its separate scam guidance describes impersonators who demand that you pay now or else and threaten arrest or deportation. A demand for payment to anyone other than the United States Treasury is a reason to stop and verify.

Phone calls and automated messages

The IRS does make outbound calls. IRM 5.19.5.4.11.2 (rev. 2025-03-03) describes the ACS predictive dialer, which can leave a callback message with a message ID, and tells ACS employees that if callers question whether the message is legitimate, they should tell the taxpayer it is legitimate and handle it like any other call after disclosure.

That instruction is aimed at employees, not at you. From your side, the safe practice is to return calls only to numbers you can confirm independently, such as the number printed on an official notice you received or a number on IRS.gov, and never to a number supplied only in a voicemail.

IRC 6304(b)(4) separately makes it a violation of the fair tax collection practices for the IRS to place telephone calls without meaningful disclosure of the caller's identity, subject to limited rules. A real IRS caller should tell you who they are and that they are with the IRS.

Your safety and theirs

The IRM also explains why a real officer may behave cautiously. IRM 5.1.10.2 tells Revenue Officers, before field activity, to check for potentially dangerous taxpayer or caution indicators, consider researching the internet for safety concerns, consider advising local law enforcement where they will be working without naming taxpayers, let their manager know the time and place of meetings and consider pairing with a manager or co-worker.

So a real officer may arrive with a colleague, may already have told the local police they would be in the area and may prefer to meet at an IRS office. None of that suggests fraud. It is in the manual.

What a real officer will not do, according to IRM 5.1.10.3, is misrepresent themselves or their reason for contact. The IRM tells employees to identify themselves as IRS employees when interacting with taxpayers and third parties.

A quick checklist at the door

• Ask for the pocket commission and the HSPD-12 card, and look at both.
• Write down the name and the employee identification number.
• Ask for the verification number from Document 13345, and confirm the number through an official source before calling.
• Ask what the visit is about and whether a letter was sent. A real officer can tell you which notice or letter scheduled the contact.
• Do not hand over money or account numbers on the doorstep. Payments go to the United States Treasury through official channels.
• If you have a representative, say so. Under IRC 6304(a)(2), the IRS generally must deal with your representative.

None of those steps should offend a legitimate employee. They are the same steps the IRM anticipates.

Pseudonyms

One wrinkle surprises people. Federal law allows some IRS employees to use a pseudonym. Section 3706 of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, printed as a note under 26 U.S.C. 7804, says an IRS employee may use a pseudonym only if the employee provides adequate justification, including protection of personal safety, and the supervisor approves it before it is used.

So a name that does not match public records does not automatically mean fraud. The credentials and the verification process are what count.

If you think it is a scam

Do not pay. Do not give personal information. Verify through official channels you find yourself. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration's Submit a Complaint page includes categories for reporting someone impersonating an IRS or Treasury employee and for threats of immediate arrest or other action if a payment is not made immediately. I describe TIGTA's role in TIGTA: The Inspector General That Audits the IRS.

And if it turns out to be real, you have lost nothing by checking. A legitimate Revenue Officer expects to be verified. The IRM says so.