Identity Theft and Tax Fraud

Identity Theft and Tax Fraud
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on Government Organization, Efficiency, and Financial Management
Publisher:
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2012
Genre: Identity theft
ISBN:

Taxes and Identity Theft: Status of IRS Initiatives to Help Victimized Taxpayers:

Taxes and Identity Theft: Status of IRS Initiatives to Help Victimized Taxpayers:
Author: James R. White
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 20
Release: 2011-03-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1437986870

Statement of James R. White, Dir., Strategic Issues, GAO. Identity theft is a serious and growing problem in the U.S. Taxpayers are harmed when identity thieves file fraudulent tax documents using stolen names and Social Security numbers. In 2010 alone, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) identified over 245,000 identity theft incidents that affected the tax system. The hundreds of thousands of taxpayers with tax problems caused by identity theft represent a small percentage of the expected 140 million individual returns filed, but for those affected, the problems can be quite serious. GAO was asked to describe, among other things, (1) when IRS detects identity theft based refund and employment fraud, (2) the steps IRS has taken to resolve, detect, and prevent innocent taxpayers' identity theft related problems, and (3) constraints that hinder IRS's ability to address these issues.This testimony is based on GAO's previous work on identity theft, which was updated by examining data on identity theft cases and interviewing IRS officials. Figures and tables. This is a print on demand report.

Identity Theft and Tax Fraud

Identity Theft and Tax Fraud
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on Government Organization, Efficiency, and Financial Management
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2012
Genre: Identity theft
ISBN: 9780160905988

Identity Theft and Tax Fraud

Identity Theft and Tax Fraud
Author: United States. Government Accountability Office
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 56
Release: 2017-12-19
Genre: Identity theft
ISBN: 9781981783922

IRS estimates that, in 2014, it prevented or recovered $22.5 billion in attempted IDT refund fraud, but paid $3.1 billion in fraudulent IDT refunds. Because of the difficulties in knowing the amount of undetected fraud, the actual amount could differ from these point estimates. IDT refund fraud occurs when a refund-seeking fraudster obtains an individual's identifying information and uses it to file a fraudulent tax return. Despite IRS's efforts to identify and prevent IDT refund fraud, this crime is an evolving and costly problem. GAO was asked to examine IRS's efforts to combat IDT refund fraud. This report (1) evaluates the performance of IRS's TPP and (2) assesses IRS's efforts to improve its estimates of IDT refund fraud costs for 2014. GAO recommends that IRS update its TPP risk assessment and take appropriate actions to mitigate risks identified in the assessment. GAO also recommends that IRS improve its IDT cost estimates by removing refund thresholds and using return-level data where available.