Online Services (OLS) has sent emails to 120,000 individual taxpayers and some of them thought that this was a scam and may have reported it. The IRS has confirmed this is a legitimate correspondence. Notice the e-mail does not require you to click on anything, nor does it provide you a link to click on—it instructs you to go to your system to change from the one given if you wish to do so.
These emails were sent to taxpayers registered through the Secure Access e-Authentication process for certain online tools on IRS.gov. Because of duplications, OLS is changing the username of these taxpayers. Example: If the username is “JaneDoe,” it will be changed to “JaneDoe01” to avoid technical issues. If “JaneDoe01” is already taken, the new username would be “JaneDoe02”, “JaneDoe03”, etc.
An email is the common communication method with Secure Access registered users. The email text is as follows:
Subject: Your IRS Username Has Changed
Dear First Name,
Due to system updates, the IRS has changed your username for IRS online services. No action is required on your part.
Your new username is:
(Username)
Please use your new username anytime you login to the following applications on IRS.gov:
- Get Transcript
- View your tax account
- Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN)
- Online Payment Agreement (OPA)
- e-Postcard (Form 990-N Electronic Filing System)
- Qualified Intermediary System (QI/WP/WT)
Want to choose a different username? You can change your username from the “Profile” page after logging in as (Username) in the applications listed above.
Your password has not changed.
About this message:
We’ve sent you this automated email because we changed your IRS online services username. For your security, the IRS will never contact you for personal or financial information in an email.