IRS may issue $26 billion in fraudulent tax refunds, watchdog tells Congress

The Washington Post ^ | 5/8/12 | Ed O'Keefe

[ruralvoter]

The Internal Revenue Service doesn’t know how many identity thieves are filing fraudulent tax returns, and the agency risks issuing approximately $26 billion in fraudulent tax refunds tied to identity theft in the next five years, a watchdog told lawmakers Tuesday.

The IRS received 2.2 million fraudulent tax returns in 2011 and found that 940,000 of the returns, with $6.5 billion in associated fraudulent refunds, involved identity theft, according to J. Russell George, head of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). George told lawmakers that the IRS cannot definitively say how many identity thieves are filing fraudulent returns on an annual basis.

[thouworm]

Liz: Was going to add related threads to your post #6 here, but it was too long (info going back to 2009).

Posted a thread, instead:

Will lawmakers act to close tax loophole [tax credits] for illegal immigrants?

[Brown Deer]

042-68-4425

[Sirius Lee]

042-68-4425

Yup. If you Connecti-the-dots, the fraud in the oval office can be impeached on this one crime alone.

[combat_boots]

Gee. He got a vig on the refunds, too?

[combat_boots]

I am so sorry.

[combat_boots]

I am sorry for your loss.

[Liz]

Thanks.