As tax season ramps up, so do cyber threats — and for businesses, the stakes are especially high. While many people think of tax scams as something that targets individuals, cybercriminals increasingly use tax season to target businesses, payroll teams, finance staff, and leadership.

Why? Tax season gives these attacks more credibility. Employees are regularly receiving requests related to payroll, tax forms, vendor payments, or accounting — which makes fraudulent messages harder to spot. Scammers often impersonate trusted entities like the IRS, payroll providers, CPAs, executives, or even internal HR contacts, using alarming language, fake refund claims, or urgent “verify this” requests to trick employees into clicking malicious links, opening infected attachments, or sharing sensitive information.

The threat is growing every year. A recent tax scam analysis found that monthly tax scam reports increased by 62% in 2025 compared to 2024, and are now four times higher than in 2020 (The Kaplan Group). Reports also show that robocalls, texts, and phishing emails have surged this year, with attackers leveraging AI and other sophisticated tools to make scams more convincing (PBS).

For businesses, this is not just a tax issue — it’s an operational and cybersecurity risk that can compromise sensitive data, disrupt workflows, and lead to financial loss.

3 Major Tax-Season Threats Businesses Face

1. IRS and Government Impersonation
Scammers frequently send emails, texts, or phone calls posing as the IRS or other government agencies, often claiming there’s a problem with a filing, refund, EIN, or compliance issue. Their goal is to trick employees into sharing sensitive business information or clicking on malicious links. The IRS emphasizes that it never initiates contact via email, text, or social media to request personal or financial information, yet these phishing attempts remain one of the most common tax-season threats.

💡In fact, IRS reports show that IRS-related phishing and impersonation schemes surged during the 2025 filing season, with more than 600 social media impersonators identified attempting to target taxpayers and businesses. (IRS)
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2. W2 and Payroll Data Theft
Fraudsters often impersonate executives or finance leaders, requesting employee W-2s, Social Security numbers, or payroll reports. If successful, these attacks expose sensitive employee and business information that can lead to identity theft, wire fraud, or follow-on scams.
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3. Business Email Compromise (BEC)
BEC attacks often involve a compromised or spoofed email account and are especially effective during tax season. They may request changes to direct deposit, vendor payment details, or sensitive files, blending into legitimate payroll, vendor, and finance workflows.

💡The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reports that BEC scams have resulted in more than $55 billion in reported global losses over the past decade, with tax-season campaigns frequently targeting payroll and financial departments. (FBI IC3)

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Cybersecurity Measures to Prevent and Protect

To protect your business this tax season, implement a layered approach:

1. Train Employees to Pause and Verify
   Urgency is a key tool for scammers. Teach employees to confirm unusual requests via a second channel, avoid links and attachments in unsolicited messages, and escalate suspicious emails internally.
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2. Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
   MFA prevents stolen credentials from granting attackers access to email accounts, payroll systems, or cloud services.
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3. Strengthen Email Security
   Use advanced spam and phishing filtering, attachment and link scanning, and domain verification to reduce exposure to fraudulent communications.
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4. Limit Access to Sensitive Data
   Review who has access to payroll, tax, and financial records. Remove former employees’ access and ensure permissions align with actual job needs.
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5. Have a Clear Incident Response Plan
   Speed matters if a payroll file, W-2, or executive email is compromised. Know who to contact internally, how to isolate accounts, and when to notify authorities or vendors.

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How Lightspeed Solutions Can Help

At Lightspeed Solutions, we understand that tax-season cyber threats are more than just technical problems — they’re business risks that can impact your operations, finances, and reputation. That’s why we take a proactive approach, helping businesses build the systems and practices needed to stop attacks before they cause disruption.
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Our Services Include:

• Managed IT and cybersecurity oversight
• Email security and phishing protection
• Access controls and identity management
• Multi-factor authentication and endpoint monitoring
• Business continuity and incident response planning

For insurance agencies and other businesses that rely on secure communication and sensitive data, cybersecurity is not just an IT issues - it's a business protection.

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→ Ready to protect your business this tax season? Let’s talk!
Schedule a demo with Lightspeed Solutions today.