A casual glance at a meeting on CSpan2 (Fri 11 April 200

Some random notes on a Senate committee hearing on ID Theft (with representatives from IRS, Dept. Treasury, Private Citizen TaxPreparers, etc)

Held - Thursday 10 April 2008
IRS & ID Theft Hearing (Senate)

Nina Olson
National Taxpayer Advocate IRS
(in relation to ID theft)

Douglas Shulman
IRS Commissioner

J Russell George
Treasury Dept. Inspector Gen for Tax Admin

Spencer - Tax Accountant (private citizen)
Recommendations:

SSNs put on tax returns for all dependents
Duplicate common names, #s fell off rolls,
IRS didn't do anything with that information

They can't do that because the 'systems are
not in place'.

One thing: to require W-2 to be sent in,
E-Filing, changing of W-2 during different FYs,

Need a particular address to sent problem returns to,

Salazar: tax prep outsourcing -
What risks exists?

Olson: info disclosure - overseas, happens to info outside the country?
A primary concern of laypeople,
'If you're outsourcing - it's banned, masked SSN is recommended policy'
Ultimate problem: our laws don't apply outside the country - no guaranteed protection exists.


Quantification of ID Theft -

Salazar: Why can't IRS have a one-stop crisis
center to manage the problem?
Seems like it would make sense to catch the problems quickly

FTC Data (Has programs to deal with ID theft)

Need to look at problem in comprehensive fashion

How about issues relating to other agencies -
DoJ, SSA (MOU - exists regarding exchange of info; strict limits on types of info that can be shared).