IRS Adds AI Abuse, Capital Gains Fraud to ‘Dirty Dozen’ Tax Scam List

Artificial intelligence abuses and fraudulent claims involving undistributed long-term capital gains are two new additions to the Internal Revenue Service's annual "dirty dozen" list of tax frauds and scams that threaten businesses and individuals.

Since at least 2002 the IRS has published a list warning of 12 illegal tax scams intended to defraud the IRS or steal money and data from unsuspecting taxpayers. Some schemes, such as impersonating the IRS and demanding falsified tax bills, make the list virtually every year.

This year's warnings list, released Thursday, for the first time identified artificial intelligence, or AI, as a threat to the nation's tax payment and collection system not only because of its ability to impersonate the IRS but because of its information-gathering abilities, Nina Tross, National Society of Tax Professionals liaison for tax and advocacy, said in an interview.

Companies should also beware of scammers sending bogus "new client" or "document request" emails actually intended to steal client data or break into corporate computer systems, the IRS said.

AI is 'Number One Culprit'

AI is not only being used to impersonate the IRS but also to gather taxpayer and corporate information, which can then be used by fraudsters to file highly detailed but nevertheless fraudulent tax forms, Tross said.

"AI is definitely the number one culprit" for perpetrating current tax scams, she said.

Other technological advances are creating new corporate tax scams. For instance, this year's dirty dozen list again includes "ghost" tax preparers — tax preparers who don't sign tax forms or include their preparer tax identification numbers on forms — as one of the dirty dozen.

But technology now allows fraudsters to access tax preparers' computers, file fraudulent returns for individual and corporate clients, and then erase their tracks by deleting the tax forms after routing fraudulent refunds to themselves, Tross said.

In the past, the IRS identified ghost preparers by tracking unusually high numbers of tax forms received in envelopes with identical postmarks, she said.

Despite her organization's warnings, tax preparers continue to fall prey to this scam "because they don't think it's going to happen to them," Tross said.

Capital Gains

Also making its first appearance on the dirty dozen list in 2026 are fraudulently filed Form 2439, which act as notices to shareholders of undistributed long-term capital gains.

In its dirty dozen announcement, the IRS said it has identified schemes where fraudulent tax promoters overstate or falsify Form 2439 claims, "including claims tied to organizations that are not legitimate investment funds or real estate trusts."

Also making the list this year: offer in compromise scams. The agency's OIC program aims to help business owners and others indebted to the IRS resolve tax disputes when they're unable to pay full amounts owed.

But OIC "mills" pump out emails, often to company owners who don't qualify for the program seeking taxpayer information or overpromising dispute settlements while charging high fees, the IRS claimed.

Tross said an earlier, similar scam claimed fraudulent tax credits under the IRS's Employee Retention Tax Credit. Abuses involving the ERTC "quietly morphed over to OIC," she said.

"The IRS advises all taxpayers to remain cautious year-round, as criminals will always be on the lookout for new ways to obtain money, personal identifiable information, and data," the IRS release states.

 

This article was written by Stephen Joyce from CFO Dive and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.