December 2, 2010 TIGTA - 2010-76 Contact: Karen Kraushaar (202) 622-6500 karen.kraushaar@tigta.treas.gov TIGTA-PAO@tigta.treas.gov Fighting Tax Fraud: The IRS Is Identifying and Preventing Fraudulent Returns And Refunds; TIGTA Recommends Increased Scrutiny of Prisoner Returns WASHINGTON – While the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has improved its ability to identify fraudulent tax returns and stop improper refunds, better access to wage and withholding information would help it prevent more tax fraud, according to a new audit report publicly released today by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The IRS identified 249,185 fraudulent tax returns and prevented the issuance of $1.48 billion in fraudulent refunds during the 2010 Filing Season, a 50 percent increase over the number of fraudulent tax returns identified during the 2009 Filing Season, the report found. Yet the report also found that the returns of those most likely to commit fraud are seldom screened by the IRS. TIGTA’s analysis found that the majority of tax returns the IRS identifies as being filed by prisoners are not being screened to assess their fraud potential. The review found that 253,929 (88 percent) of the 287,918 returns filed by prisoners as of March 24, 2010 were not selected for screening. Of those, 48,887 who claimed refunds totaling more than $130 million had no wage information reported to the IRS by employers. While some of the potential fraud may have been caught by other IRS programs, the report concluded that giving the IRS expanded and expedited access to wage and withholding information during the filing season would significantly increase the IRS’s ability to more efficiently and effectively verify wage and withholding information reported on a tax return at the time a tax return is processed. “While the IRS is identifying larger numbers of fraudulent returns, improvements must be made to its screening processes to ensure that returns filed by prisoners get adequate scrutiny,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. “Unscrupulous individuals, including prisoners, continue to submit tax returns with false income documents to the IRS for the sole purpose of receiving a fraudulent refund,” he added. “Expanded and expedited access to wage and withholding information would significantly increase the IRS’s ability to verify information reported on a tax return when processed, and prevent fraud.” The IRS uses data mining to identify potentially fraudulent tax returns using formulas based on specific characteristics of the tax return. TIGTA assessed the IRS’s processes to identify potentially fraudulent tax returns for screening. Existing law limits IRS access to wage information submitted by Federal agencies and State workforce agencies to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Only individuals claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit have their wage information submitted to the IRS. In addition, the IRS could benefit from expediting the use of wage and withholding information it receives from the Social Security Administration (SSA). TIGTA made four recommendations to the IRS, including: seeking increased access to HHS data; verifying whether the 48,887 tax returns with tax refunds that were filed by prisoners with no reported wages were fraudulent; and identifying revisions that could be made to data mining criteria to better identify fraudulent tax returns filed by prisoners. The IRS disagreed with the amount of potential savings from expanded and expedited access to SSA data and improving verification of prisoner tax returns. TIGTA’s findings regarding prisoners are similar to its findings in a September 28, 2005 audit The Internal Revenue Service Needs to Do More to Stop the Millions of Dollars in Fraudulent Refunds Paid to Prisoners (September 28, 2005, Reference Number: 2005-10-164) To view the report, including the scope, methodology, and full IRS response, go to: http:www.treas.gov/tigta/auditreports/2010reports/201040129fr.pdf. www.irstaxattorney.com 888-712-7690