Identity Theft and Tax Fraud

Identity Theft and Tax Fraud PDF

Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on Government Organization, Efficiency, and Financial Management

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13:

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Detection Has Improved; However, Identity Theft Continues to Result in Billions of Dollars in Potentially Fraudulent Tax Refunds

Detection Has Improved; However, Identity Theft Continues to Result in Billions of Dollars in Potentially Fraudulent Tax Refunds PDF

Author: Michael E. McKenney

Publisher:

Published: 2013-12-08

Total Pages: 39

ISBN-13: 9781457851919

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Identity theft is a serious and growing problem which has a significant impact on tax administration. Undetected tax refund fraud results in significant unintended Federal outlays and erodes taxpayer confidence in the Federal tax system. This audit examined whether the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has improved its programs and procedures to identify and prevent fraudulent tax refunds resulting from identity theft. It found that expanded identity theft detection efforts are helping identify fraudulent tax returns. However, billions of dollars in potential fraudulent refunds continue to be paid, totaling approx. $3.6 billion, which is down by $1.6 billion compared to the $5.2 billion in fraudulent tax refunds reported for Tax Year 2010. The report also shows that the IRS has still not taken actions to prevent multiple tax refunds from being deposited to the same bank account, providing identity thieves with an easy method to obtain fraudulent tax refunds. Tables. This is a print on demand report.

Taxes and Identity Theft: Status of IRS Initiatives to Help Victimized Taxpayers:

Taxes and Identity Theft: Status of IRS Initiatives to Help Victimized Taxpayers: PDF

Author: James R. White

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2011-03-05

Total Pages: 20

ISBN-13: 1437986870

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Statement of James R. White, Dir., Strategic Issues, GAO. Identity theft is a serious and growing problem in the U.S. Taxpayers are harmed when identity thieves file fraudulent tax documents using stolen names and Social Security numbers. In 2010 alone, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) identified over 245,000 identity theft incidents that affected the tax system. The hundreds of thousands of taxpayers with tax problems caused by identity theft represent a small percentage of the expected 140 million individual returns filed, but for those affected, the problems can be quite serious. GAO was asked to describe, among other things, (1) when IRS detects identity theft based refund and employment fraud, (2) the steps IRS has taken to resolve, detect, and prevent innocent taxpayers' identity theft related problems, and (3) constraints that hinder IRS's ability to address these issues.This testimony is based on GAO's previous work on identity theft, which was updated by examining data on identity theft cases and interviewing IRS officials. Figures and tables. This is a print on demand report.