In addition to scams Doeren Mayhew highlighted in this February post, the Internal Revenue Service is now warning taxpayers to be on the lookout for a new phishing scam featuring emails that appear to be from the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service and include a bogus case number.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service is a legitimate IRS organization, however, the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email, texting or any social media means.

The fake emails in this latest phishing scam may include the following message: “Your reported 2013 income is flagged for review due to a document processing error. Your case has been forwarded to the Taxpayer Advocate Service for resolution assistance. To avoid delays processing your 2013 filing contact the Taxpayer Advocate Service for resolution assistance.”

‪Recipients are directed to click on links that supposedly provide information about the “advocate” assigned to their case or that let them “review reported income,” which lead to Web pages that solicit personal information.

‪Taxpayers who get these messages should not respond to the email or click on the links. Instead, they should forward the scam emails to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov. For more information, visit the IRS’s Report Phishing Web page.

For assistance determining whether an IRS communication is legitimate, contact Doeren Mayhew’s CPAs and tax advisors in Michigan, Houston or Ft. Lauderdale.