
Tax Season Scams Are Starting Early

Tax season scams are launching earlier every year. Here is the specific scam targeting small businesses first, and how to spot it.
Tax season scams used to cluster tightly around the April filing deadline. That pattern has shifted - attackers now start earlier each year, often targeting small businesses well before individual filers are even thinking about taxes.
The Early-Season Scam Pattern
Attackers increasingly target small businesses in January with fraudulent requests related to W-2 and 1099 preparation, since this is when payroll and HR staff are legitimately requesting and compiling employee tax documents - making a fraudulent request blend in more easily.
How This Specific Scam Works
An email, appearing to come from a company executive, requests that HR or payroll send copies of all employee W-2 forms "for an urgent audit" or similar pretext. Because this request superficially resembles a legitimate, time-sensitive task already underway, it's easy to miss the red flags.
Red Flags to Watch For
- •Requests for bulk sensitive documents sent via email rather than through a secure system
- •Urgency language discouraging the recipient from verifying through another channel
- •Slight discrepancies in the sender's email address compared to the real executive's
- •Requests arriving outside normal business hours or from unusual sending patterns
Protecting Your Business This Season
- •Require verbal verification for any bulk request involving employee tax or financial documents.
- •Train HR and payroll staff specifically on this pattern before tax season begins.
- •Use secure, access-controlled systems for tax document distribution rather than email attachments.
Veracity Technologies helps Minneapolis-St. Paul businesses build the verification habits and email security controls that stop tax season scams before they succeed.
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Published 2026-01-01 · Last reviewed December 2025