Twenty-one percent of millennials report that they experienced phone scams during the current tax season, compared with 17% of baby boomers, according to survey results released this week by ACI Worldwide, a software company, and YouGov.
This represents a shift from 2020, when 23% of boomers and 18% of millennials said they had experienced tax season phone scams.
"The survey sheds light on a likely vulnerability with taxpayers who tend to be more confident about sharing their financial information," Sanjay Gupta, executive vice president of ACI Worldwide, said in a statement.
"As digital payments continue to grow, taxpayers need to be more vigilant during tax season. Arming themselves with information on the latest tax scams is the first step. It's also important to note that the IRS never contacts taxpayers by phone, email or text."
YouGov conducted the online survey Feb. 9 and 10 among 1,237 U.S. adults.
Digital payment of taxes has been growing steadily, according to the ACI and YouGov study. This year, 55% of survey participants plan to pay their taxes using digital methods, compared with 50% who did so in 2020 and 46% in 2019.
At the same time, use of cash and other non-digital methods of payment, such as checks, has continued to decline. Twenty-six percent of respondents said they would pay their taxes using cash or check in 2021, compared with 32% in 2020.
ACI noted that its 2020 tax payment data showed that taxpayers in a majority of states opted to use a debit card as the preferred method of paying taxes. In the last three years, however, taxpayers in some states preferred credit cards to debit cards closer to the tax deadline.
