Thread: Report Says IRS Let Foreigners Take Improper Tax Credits

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03534.html

By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Internal Revenue Service has allowed some foreigners to improperly claim tax credits that will cost the government nearly $9 billion, according to a federal report scheduled to be released today.

The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which was obtained by The Washington Post in advance of its release, criticizes the IRS for lax oversight of foreigners who use an alternative form of identification instead of a Social Security number. Many of the foreigners who use the code, known as an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, are illegal immigrants, according to government officials and immigration experts.

The IRS has allowed companies who employ foreigners to file tax documents using this form of identification even though the law forbids it, the audit says. It said that 292,992 companies improperly reported wages totaling $9.5 billion in 2006 using those codes.

The practice has allowed foreigners who file their U.S. taxes using taxpayer identification numbers to inappropriately claim a child tax credit, the report said. The improper credit will cost $8.9 billion over the next five years, the inspector general's office said. The report calls on Congress to pass legislation to fix the problem.
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The IRS said in a response to the report that it disagreed with several of the inspector general's recommendations. The tax agency said, for example, that it is the responsibility of the Social Security Administration to fix the problem of improper uses by foreigners of alternative identification numbers.

The tax agency also said it has taken several steps to improve compliance with laws governing use of these taxpayer numbers. The inspector general's office said more changes were needed.

It seems the only people in our country that are held to the highest letter of the law are the American people.

There they go again. They've identified a source of rampant fraud committed by illegal aliens, and other foreigners as well as employers who hire them, to bilk us out of literal billions and they immediately start passing the buck as to WHOM is responsible for putting an end to it.

This isn't a freakin' popularity contest to see which of our agencies is the most likable and foreigner-friendly for God's sake, this is an issue of the US being played for FOOLS and the American taxpayer suffering the consequences.

Just get off your thumbs and FIX the damned problem already!!

Originally Posted by azwreath

There they go again. They've identified a source of rampant fraud committed by illegal aliens, and other foreigners as well as employers who hire them, to bilk us out of literal billions and they immediately start passing the buck as to WHOM is responsible for putting an end to it.

This isn't a freakin' popularity contest to see which of our agencies is the most likable and foreigner-friendly for God's sake, this is an issue of the US being played for FOOLS and the American taxpayer suffering the consequences.

Just get off your thumbs and FIX the damned problem already!!

I love your post cause you get right to the logical heart of the problem ! Cudos to you azwreath !!

And yet investigations of tax preparers for illegal aliens can be (at least temporarily) halted.. Violates confidentiality rights...according to the ACLU and their sympathetic judges. What about the People's right to be treated honestly by non-citizens?

http://www.examiner.com/a-1958217~Judge ... ation.html

Please forward official US news reports such as this to your Senators. They need to know that we are faced with a very broad based problem and that the people are having to pay for a lot of criminal investigation, prosecution and incarceration that they should not have to.

Please, at this time, concentrate on Senators who are hearing the DREAM Act, which now is in the Senate Judiciary Committee. You can find those members at:
http://judiciary.senate.gov/about/members.cfm

Originally Posted by USPatriot

Originally Posted by azwreath

There they go again. They've identified a source of rampant fraud committed by illegal aliens, and other foreigners as well as employers who hire them, to bilk us out of literal billions and they immediately start passing the buck as to WHOM is responsible for putting an end to it.

This isn't a freakin' popularity contest to see which of our agencies is the most likable and foreigner-friendly for God's sake, this is an issue of the US being played for FOOLS and the American taxpayer suffering the consequences.

Just get off your thumbs and FIX the damned problem already!!

I love your post cause you get right to the logical heart of the problem ! Cudos to you azwreath !!

LOL, thanks USP.

And just think, this is the TOS-observant me (for this forum ).