The letter reads, under a pretty silly looking IRS masthead:

Sir/Madam,

Our records indicate that you are a non-resident alien. As a result, you are exempted from United States of America Tax reporting and withholdings, on interest paid you on your account and other financial dealing to protect your exemption from tax on your account and other financial benefit in rectifying your exemption status.

Therefore, you are to authenticate the following by completing form W-4100B2, and return to us as soon as possible through the fax number: +1-646-731-6884.

If you are a USA Citizen and resident, please complete form W-4100B2 and fax it to us, please indicate “USA Citizen/Resident” on the form and return it to us.

When completing form W-4100B2, please follow the steps below

1. We need you to provide your permanent address if different from the current mailing address on your Form W-4100B2 , you must indicate if a non-USA resident, your country of origin to support your non-resident status (if your bank account or other financial dealing has a USA address for mailing purpose).

2. If any joint account holder are now USA residents or Citizen, or in any way subject to USA tax reporting laws, Please check the box in this section.

3. Please complete 1 through 19 and have all account holders, sign and date the form separately and fax it to the above-mentioned number.

Please, complete Form W-4100B2 ‘attached” and return to us within 1 (one) week from the receipt of this letter by faxing it, to enable us update your records immediately if your account or any other financial benefits are not rectified in a timely manner, it will be subject to USA tax reporting and back up withholding (if back up withholding applies, we are required to withhold 30% of the interest paid to you).

We appreciate your cooperation in helping us protect your exempt status and also update our records.

Sincerely,

Laura Stevens
IRS .Public Relations.

The thing I love about this letter is that it’s not written in American English. Americans don’t refer to USA taxes, ever — they are Federal taxes. They also don’t “rectify” situations, they correct them. The other attachment is the form, “W-4100B2″, is nothing more than an elaborate phishing exercise including asking for your mother’s maiden name, and a list of all bank accounts, account numbers, and a copy of your passport. They would then use this information to drain your bank accounts.

The IRS.gov web site recommends the following actions when you receive e-mail purporting to be from the Service:

How to Report and Identify Phishing, E-mail Scams and Bogus IRS Web Sites

The IRS does not initiate taxpayer communications through e-mail.

• The IRS does not request detailed personal information through e-mail.
• The IRS does not send e-mail requesting your PIN numbers, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial accounts.

If you receive an e-mail from someone claiming to be the IRS or directing you to an IRS site,

• Do not reply.
• Do not open any attachments. Attachments may contain malicious code that will infect your computer.
• Do not click on any links. If you clicked on links in a suspicious e-mail or phishing Web site and entered confidential information, visit our Identity Theft page.

How to report phishing, e-mail scams and bogus IRS Web sites
If you receive an e-mail or find a Web site you think is pretending to be the IRS,

• Forward the e-mail or Web site URL to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.
• You can forward the message as received or provide the Internet header of the e-mail. The Internet header has additional information to help us locate the sender.
• After you forward the e-mail or header information to us, delete the message.

How to identify phishing e-mail scams and bogus IRS Web sites

• Sample of phishing e-mails
  • First sample of an actual phishing e-mail – PDF
  • Second sample of an actual phishing e-mail – PDF
• All IRS.gov Web page addresses begin with, http://www.irs.gov/
  • Is it a phishing Web site? – PDF
• Are you a victim of Identity Theft?
  • Contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338)
  • Visit the IRS Identity Theft resource page

You may also report misuse of the IRS name, logo, forms or other IRS property to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration toll-free at 1-800-366-4484.

Additional resources

• OnGuardOnline.gov provides protection tips from the federal government and the technology industry.
• Suspicious e-Mails and Identity Theft
• What is Phishing, Beware of Phishing Schemes
• IR-2006-49, IRS Establishes e-Mail Box for Taxpayers to Report Phony e-Mails.
• Phishing Scams, Frivolous Arguments Top the 2008 “Dirty Dozen” Tax Scams
• You can also forward suspicious e-mails to the Federal Trade Commission at: spam@uce.gov or contact them at 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338).

January 15, 2008

4th quarter estimated tax payments due for 2007 tax year.

January 31, 2008

Deadline for employers to mail out Form W-2 and for payers to furnish Form 1099 statements to payees.
Deadline for self-employed individuals to file and to pay their tax and avoid a penalty for not making 4th quarter estimated tax payment.

February 15, 2008

Deadline for employees who claim exemption from withholding to file a new Form W-4 with their employers.

February 28, 2008

Deadline for employers to file Form W-2 and Form 1099 statements with the Social Security Administration if filing on paper or magnetic media.

March 2, 2008

Deadline to file FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) for initial award consideration.

March 17, 2008

Deadline for corporate tax returns (Forms 1120, 1120A, and 1120S), or to request automatic 6-month extension of time to file (Form 7004).
Final deadline to file an amended corporate tax return (Form 1120X) for tax year 2004 and still claim a tax refund.

March 31, 2008

Deadline for employers to file Form W-2 and Form 1099 Statements with the Social Security Administration if filing electronically.

April 15, 2008

Deadline to file individual tax returns (Form 1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ) or to request an Automatic Extension (Form 4868).
Last day to make contribution to traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or SEP-IRA for the 2007 tax year.
1st quarter estimated tax payments due for 2008 tax year.
Final deadline to file an original tax return (Form 1040) for tax year 2004 and still claim a tax refund. (I provide an easy, step-by-step approach to filing back taxes.)
Final deadline to file amended tax return (Form 1040X) for tax year 2004 and still claim a tax refund. (Be sure to mail the amended return well before April 16th to make sure your tax refund will be processed in a timely manner.)
Deadline to file estate or trust tax returns (Form 1041) or to request an automatic 6-month extension of time to file (Form 7004).
Deadline to file partnership tax returns (Form 1065) or to request an automatic 6-month extension of time to file (Form 7004).
Final deadline for estates, trusts, or partnerships to file an amended tax return and still claim a tax refund for the year 2004.

May 15, 2008

Deadline for non-profit organizations to file information returns (Form 990), or request an extension (Form 8868).

June 16, 2008

2nd quarter estimated tax payments due for 2008 tax year.
Deadline for US citizens living abroad to file individual tax returns or to request an additional 4-month extension (Form 4868). (Tip: request an automatic extension by April 15th, 2008, instead.) I provide useful information for claiming the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and the Foreign Tax Credit, two tax breaks essential for Americans working abroad.

June 30, 2008

Deadline to file TD F 90-22.1 Report of Foreign Bank Accounts if you have over $10,000 held in foreign bank accounts.

September 15, 2008

3rd quarter estimated tax payments due for 2008 tax year.
Final deadline to file corporate tax returns (Forms 1120, 1120A, 1120S).

October 15, 2008

Final deadline to file individual tax returns (with extension). Final day for e-file.
Final deadline to file trust tax returns (Form 1041) if an extension was requested.
Final deadline to file partnership tax returns (Form 1065) if an extension was requested.
Final deadline to fund a SEP-IRA for tax year 2007 if you requested an automatic extension of time to file.

November 2008

Start planning any year-end tax moves.

December 31, 2008

Last day to make any 2008 tax year moves, including marriage or divorce: Your marital status on this day determines your status for tax return purposes.

IRS Warns of E-mail Survey Scam

Washington, D.C. (Aug. 30, 2007)

The Internal Revenue Service issued a warning about a new e-mail scam that has been hitting people’s inboxes, offering unwary recipients $80 to participate in an online customer satisfaction survey that falsely purports to come from the IRS.

The e-mail contains From and Subject lines that appear to originate from the IRS, as well as a copyright statement that also claims to be from the agency. The message includes a hyperlink that takes the unsuspecting recipient to an online survey that asks for the taxpayer’s name, phone number and credit card account.

The IRS warns that the scammers may try to use the information to run up charges on the victim’s credit card account. There is even the possibility that the scammers might call the victim and try to obtain further financial information so they can get access to a bank account.

The IRS said, however, that it never sends unsolicited e-mail messages, and it never requests taxpayers to divulge their PIN codes, credit card numbers or similar information.