You opened the mail and the return address says Internal Revenue Service. The first line mentions identity theft. Your pulse does something unhelpful. Take a breath. Nothing in the next ten minutes needs to be solved. You only need to read carefully and work in order.

Start with the paper in your hand

Look at the top or corner of the notice. The IRS prints a notice or letter number there. Three that come up in identity theft cases are the CP5071 series, letter 4883C and letter 5747C. Each has its own explainer on the IRS site.

Circle the number in pen. It is the one detail that tells you which page to read. These letters are not interchangeable, so match yours to its own explainer and read that page slowly, start to finish, before you do anything else.

A paper notice on a kitchen table with a circled notice number in pen, next to a steaming mug and reading glasses, in calm morning light.
A paper IRS notice on a kitchen table with the notice number circled in pen next to a mug and a pair of reading glasses.

What this guide can and cannot tell you

The IRS pages we reviewed came through as menus and sign-in links, with none of the actual instructions. So this guide does not state what each notice asks of you. It also gives no deadlines, mailing addresses or phone numbers. A wrong one could cost you time, and a guess is worse than a gap. Your notice and the linked IRS pages are the source for those details. This is educational only, not tax or legal advice.

Check that the notice is real before you act on it

Scammers like the word IRS. They also like urgency, and urgency is the oldest tell there is. Common red flags in any tax-related contact include:

  • A demand to act immediately or face dire consequences.
  • A link or phone number in a text or email you did not expect.
  • A request for payment in an unusual form.
  • A request for personal details through an unsolicited message.

That list is general fraud-spotting sense, not a quote from the IRS. The agency publishes its own page on ways to tell if the IRS is reaching out or if it is a scammer. Read it before you respond to anything.

One habit protects you here. If you cannot verify a contact, do not use the contact details inside it. Do not click the link in the text. Do not call the number printed in the email. Open a browser, type the IRS address yourself, and find the page from there. It takes thirty seconds and it removes the biggest risk, which is being steered to a lookalike site.

Keep a paper record from day one

This part is common sense rather than IRS guidance, so check it against your notice. Make a copy of the letter before you write on it or send anything back. Keep the envelope too. The postmark and date can matter later if you need to show when something arrived.

Start a simple log. Write down the date, what you did and what you sent. If you speak to anyone, note the day and what was said. Keep copies of everything you mail. Fold it all into one folder, paper or digital, so you are not hunting through the kitchen drawer in a month.

A calm record also helps if the matter drags on. Nobody remembers dates well when they are stressed, and you will probably be stressed.

What may come next

Several next steps may or may not apply to you. The IRS has a page on how to verify your return. It has another on when to file an Identity Theft Affidavit. Whether the affidavit fits your situation is something that page, and your notice, will tell you.

The IRS also explains how identity theft victim assistance works. We cannot promise a timeline, and nobody outside the agency should. The same goes for outcomes. No article can tell you how a case will end or what it means for your taxes.

The Identity Protection PIN is covered on the IRS identity theft central page. Whether it applies to you is a question for that page. Other bodies, such as the FTC or the credit bureaus, may also be worth checking with in a case like this. We did not confirm that from the sources we reviewed, so treat it as a prompt to look, not an instruction.

A short order of operations

  1. Read the whole notice and find its number.
  2. Confirm it is genuine using the IRS scam-recognition page, not links in the notice or a message.
  3. Read the matching IRS explainer for that number.
  4. Follow the steps on the notice and the IRS pages, and keep copies of everything you send.

If anything in the notice conflicts with this guide, trust the notice and the IRS site. Type the address yourself when you go there.