If you have musty, years-old debts to the Internal Revenue Service, you may start hearing from a private debt collector.

Beginning this month, the IRS has revived the use of debt-collection companies, and will start sending about 100 letters a week out to those with long-overdue federal tax accounts. If you are one of those people, your back taxes will be assigned to one of four private-sector collection agencies.

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“Most taxpayers owing tax debt to the IRS simply do not have the ability to pay,” said Michael Gillen, of the law firm Duane Morris. “Such taxpayers need to protect themselves, not from the IRS, but from scammers.

“The use of private debt collectors to collect delinquent tax debts is a potential minefield for taxpayers with valid tax debts, given the proliferation of tax scams and the overwhelming presence of fraudsters posing as IRS representatives attempting to collect debts,” Gillen said. “Such fraudsters will certainly try to capitalize on the use of private debt collectors.”

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