The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) added two new items to its annual "Dirty Dozen" list of tax scams: artificial intelligence (AI) abuse and fraudulent filings involving undistributed long-term capital gains. The list aims to warn about tax fraud and scams threatening businesses and individuals.

Since at least2002, the IRS has annually published a list of 12 illegal tax schemes designed to deceive the IRS or steal money and data from unsuspecting taxpayers. Some tactics appear almost every year, such as impersonating the IRS and demanding fake tax bills.

This year's warning listwas released on Thursday, marking the first time AI has been listed as a threat to the U.S. tax administration system. Nina Tross, tax and advocacy liaison for the National Society of Tax Professionals, said in an interview that AI can not only impersonate the IRS, but its information-gathering capabilities also pose a risk.

The IRS also reminded businesses to be wary of fraudulent "new client" or "document request" emails sent by scammers, which are actually intended to steal client data or infiltrate business computer systems.

AI is the "number one culprit"

Tross noted that AI is not only used to impersonate the IRS, but also to collect information about taxpayers and businesses, which scammers can then use to submit highly detailed but still fraudulent tax forms.

"AI is absolutely the 'number one culprit' in current tax scams," she said.

Other technological advances are also spawning new business tax scams. For example, this year's "Dirty Dozen" list again includes "ghost" tax preparers—tax professionals who do not sign tax returns or include their preparer tax identification number. But Tross said technology now enables scammers to hack into tax preparers' computers, file fraudulent returns for individual and business clients, and delete the returns after transferring fraudulent refunds to their own accounts to cover their tracks.

In the past, the IRS identified ghost preparers by tracking unusually large volumes of returns with identical postmarks, she said.

Despite repeated warnings from her organization, tax preparers continue to fall for this scam "because they think it won't happen to them," Tross said.

Capital gains

Also making its debut on the "Dirty Dozen" list in 2026 is the fraudulent filing ofForm 2439, which is used to notify shareholders of undistributed long-term capital gains.

In the "Dirty Dozen" announcement, the IRS said it has identified schemes where fraudulent tax promoters inflate or fabricate Form 2439 filings, "including filings related to entities that are not legitimate investment funds or real estate investment trusts."

Also on this year's list is the "offer in compromise" (OIC) scam. The IRS's OIC program is designed to help business owners and other taxpayers who owe taxes resolve disputes when they cannot pay the full amount. However, the IRS says OIC "factories" send mass emails, often targeting business owners who do not qualify for the program, soliciting taxpayer information or overpromising dispute resolution and charging high fees.

Tross said earlier similar scams exploited the IRS's Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) to claim fraudulent credits. ERTC abuse has "quietly shifted to OICs," she said.

The IRS announcement said: "The IRS advises all taxpayers to remain vigilant throughout the year, as criminals are always looking for new ways to obtain money, personal identity information, and data."