Income Tax 567 Complaints: Fraud, Preparers, and IRS Disputes

Filing a complaint with the IRS starts with matching your situation to the right channel, because the agency runs entirely separate processes for reporting tax cheating, challenging what the IRS says you owe, complaining about a paid preparer, and reporting misconduct by an IRS employee. Send the wrong form to the wrong office and you get a form letter back. Send the right one and you get a substantive response.

Here is how each path works.

Reporting Someone Else for Tax Fraud

If you suspect a person or business is violating tax law, the standard tool is Form 3949-A, the Information Referral. It covers unreported income, false deductions, failure to file, failure to withhold, altered documents, and similar conduct. You can submit it online or mail it to the IRS in Ogden, Utah.¹²

The form asks for the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of the person or business you’re reporting, a description of what you believe happened, and the approximate dollar amounts involved. You don’t have to identify yourself. Anonymous referrals are accepted, though leaving contact information helps if the IRS needs to follow up.

One thing to expect: silence. Form 3949-A is a tip. You hand information to the IRS and walk away. The agency won’t tell you whether it investigated or what it found.

When You Want a Financial Award

If the underpayment is large and your information is detailed, the IRS Whistleblower Program pays awards for tips that lead to collections. The submission form is Form 211, filed online or by mail, and unlike Form 3949-A it requires you to identify yourself and sign under penalty of perjury.³

The mandatory award program applies only when the disputed tax, penalties, and interest exceed $2 million and the taxpayer’s gross income exceeded $200,000 in at least one relevant year. When both thresholds are met and the IRS collects, the award is 15 to 30 percent of collected proceeds.⁴ Federal law also bars employers from retaliating against employees who report tax violations, with remedies including reinstatement, double back pay, lost benefits, and attorney fees.

Complaining About a Tax Return Preparer

If a paid preparer inflated deductions, fabricated income, charged excessive fees, or failed to sign a return, file Form 14157, the Return Preparer Complaint. The form asks for the preparer’s name, business address, and Preparer Tax Identification Number if you have it.⁵

When the misconduct is more serious, such as a preparer filing a return without your knowledge or altering your return without consent, add Form 14157-A, the Tax Return Preparer Fraud or Misconduct Affidavit. The affidavit is for cases where you’re asking the IRS to change your tax account because of what the preparer did. File both forms together with supporting documents.

Send the completed Form 14157 to the IRS Return Preparer Office in Atlanta, Georgia, by mail or fax.⁶ If you already received a notice or letter from the IRS about the return, send the forms to the address on that notice instead.⁵

Disputing What the IRS Says You Owe

Disagreeing with an IRS assessment on your own return is a different process from reporting someone else. It moves in two stages with two very different deadlines.

The 30-Day Letter

After an audit, the IRS typically sends a 30-day letter (such as Letter 525 or Letter 950) with a report of proposed adjustments. That letter explains your right to appeal to the IRS Independent Office of Appeals, and you have 30 days from the date on the letter to file.⁷

If the total in dispute (tax plus penalties) is $25,000 or less for the tax year, use Form 12203, the Request for Appeals Review. List the items you disagree with and briefly explain why.⁸

If more than $25,000 is at stake, the IRS requires a formal written protest that includes:

Your name, address, and phone number
A clear statement that you want to appeal the IRS findings
The specific tax periods at issue
Each adjustment you dispute, with the facts and any legal authority supporting your position
A penalties-of-perjury statement confirming the information is true and correct

Send the protest to the IRS office named in your letter within the 30-day window. An Appeals Officer will schedule a conference, and these officers can settle based on the realistic likelihood of the IRS winning in court, so genuine negotiation is possible.

The 90-Day Letter

If you miss the 30-day window or Appeals can’t resolve the case, the IRS issues a statutory Notice of Deficiency, commonly called the 90-day letter. This is the IRS’s final determination of additional tax owed.⁷

You then have exactly 90 days from the mailing date (150 days if you’re outside the United States) to file a petition with the United States Tax Court. If the last day is a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.⁹ Miss this deadline and the assessment becomes final. The filing fee is $60,¹⁰ and the key advantage of Tax Court is that you don’t have to pay the disputed tax first.¹¹

Complaining About an IRS Employee

The path depends on the seriousness of what the employee did.

For criminal conduct or serious misconduct such as theft, bribery, unauthorized access to taxpayer records, or fraud, the complaint goes to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, not the IRS itself. TIGTA is an independent oversight body. Its Office of Investigations hotline is 1-800-366-4484, and complaints can also be filed on the TIGTA website.¹²

For lesser problems (rudeness, delays, lost paperwork, unhelpful responses) there is no single universal complaint form, despite what some guides claim. Start by contacting the IRS office that handled your interaction and asking to speak with a supervisor. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights guarantees the right to quality service, including the right to speak with a supervisor about inadequate service.¹³

If the issue involves discrimination based on race, sex, disability, or other protected characteristics, the IRS Civil Rights Division accepts written complaints. These must generally be filed within 180 days of the incident and mailed to the Operations Director of the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C.

When Normal Channels Have Failed

The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent organization within the IRS for situations where the regular process has broken down or IRS action is causing real harm. You request help by filing Form 911.¹⁴

TAS accepts cases in defined categories of hardship:

Economic harm, such as eviction, inability to pay for necessities, or a levy that has frozen your bank account
An immediate threat of adverse action like property seizure or wage garnishment
Substantial professional fees you’ll incur if the issue isn’t resolved
Systemic delays where your problem has been unresolved for more than 30 days past normal processing time, or the IRS missed a promised response date
Equity concerns where tax law is being applied in a way that is fundamentally unfair given your circumstances

TAS will not take cases involving frivolous tax arguments or constitutional challenges to the tax system.¹⁵ It exists to fix administrative failures, not to reopen the question of whether you owe.

Rights That Apply to Every Complaint

Whichever channel you use, the IRS formally recognizes ten taxpayer rights. The ones that matter most in a complaint or dispute:¹³

The right to be informed of IRS decisions and what you need to do in response
The right to challenge the IRS’s position and be heard, with your objections and documentation considered
The right to appeal most IRS decisions to a fair, impartial administrative forum, and to take the case to court if the appeal fails
The right to finality, including knowing the deadlines that apply to you and the time limits on IRS audits and collection
The right to confidentiality of information you provide
The right to representation by an attorney, CPA, or enrolled agent, with Low Income Taxpayer Clinics available if you can’t afford one

These are enforceable standards. A violation can support a TAS case, strengthen an appeal, or ground a TIGTA complaint depending on what happened.

1
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 3949-A, Information Referral
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Internal Revenue Service. Report Tax Fraud, a Scam or Law Violation
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Internal Revenue Service. Submit a Whistleblower Claim for Award
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 7623 – Expenses of Detection of Underpayments and Fraud
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Internal Revenue Service. Make a Complaint About a Tax Return Preparer
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 14157 – Return Preparer Complaint
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Internal Revenue Service. Letters and Notices Offering an Appeal Opportunity
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Internal Revenue Service. Preparing a Request for Appeals
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6213 – Restrictions Applicable to Deficiencies; Petition to Tax Court
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United States Tax Court. Court Fees
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Taxpayer Advocate Service. Filing a Petition with the United States Tax Court
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U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration OIG. Submit a Complaint
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Internal Revenue Service. Taxpayer Bill of Rights
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Taxpayer Advocate Service. Submit a Request for Taxpayer Advocate Service Assistance
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Internal Revenue Service. 13.1.7 Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) Case Criteria