Thread: Report: IRS not doing enough on ID theft

Report: IRS not doing enough on ID theft

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - Tax-fraud identity theft will be the subject of a Senate hearing today.

A Treasury Department report says the number of phony tax returns filed as a result of identity theft has jumped more than six times over the past five years. But the report also notes that the Internal Revenue Service rarely pursues or prosecutes such cases.

IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman is scheduled to testify before the Senate Finance Committee.

The report by Treasury's inspector general says the main incentives for stealing a person's Social Security number and taxpayer identity are to steal a tax refund through a fraudulent return or to get a job.

The report says that between 2002 and 2007 the number of fraudulent tax-return complaints to the Federal Trade Commission soared from 3,000 to more than 20,000.


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Yep, this has been allowed to slide under-recognized way too long.

The laws and regs need to be changed so that IRS can talk to SSA (and then later DHS) regarding investigating ID theft especially with respect to IAs.

A Treasury Department report says the number of phony tax returns filed as a result of identity theft has jumped more than six times over the past five years. But the report also notes that the Internal Revenue Service rarely pursues or prosecutes such cases.

In all this time hasn't the IRS auditted any of these cases? If a person steals an idenity wouldn't it be a red flag they are falsifying tax information too?