Treasury Department Watchdog: IRS Failed to Notify Over 1 Million People of Identity Theft

 IMAGINE THAT, THESE BLOOD SUCKERS CARE MORE ABOUT AN ILLEGAL PAYING TAXES THAN IDENTITY THEFT CRIMES AGAINST AMERICAN CITIZENS

As reported at The Hill, the IRS failed to notify over one million American tax payers of identity theft from 2011 through 2015. How on earth does a U.S.  government agency not notify an American tax payer of identity theft? The watchdog also found that the IRS does not have an effective process in place to make sure that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is alerted about earnings not associated with ID-theft victims. WHAT!!! But instead we get the following from this disgraceful agency, during hearings in April, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said that the agency doesn’t go after the immigrants who do this because the agency wants them to pay the taxes they owe. What the hell does that have to do with alerting victims of identity theft? The IRS would rather collect the money from illegals than stop the felony crime of identity theft and the hassle that it causes victims? UNREAL. As Hot Air opines, “So there you have it. The IRS has known this was a problem since 2011. Since then it has identified an additional 1.1 million victims of employment related identity theft and, with the exception of a 2014 pilot program, failed to notify the victims … because they don’t want to discourage the illegal immigrants who use identity theft to get a job from filing tax returns.”

The IRS truly needs to be abolished and a new form of tax collection put in place.

IRS_building

The Internal Revenue Service identified close to 1.1 million taxpayers who were victims of employment-related identity theft from 2011 through 2015, but almost none of the victims were informed, a Treasury Department watchdog found in a report made public this week.

Employment-related identity theft can cause significant burden to taxpayers, including the incorrect computation of taxes based on income they did not earn,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, whose office issued the report.

Employment-related identity theft is when someone uses another person’s Social Security number to get a job. The IRS identifies cases of employment-related ID theft when electronic tax returns are filed with an individual taxpayer identification number that doesn’t match income documents associated with the accompanying Social Security number.

The issue has gotten attention in Congress, in part because people in the country illegally tend to be the ones using other people’s Social Security numbers to get jobs. During hearings in April, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said that the agency doesn’t go after the immigrants who do this because the agency wants them to pay the taxes they owe. Koskinen’s comments have drawn criticism from Republican lawmakers.

The inspector general report does not explicitly mention illegal immigration and does not discuss whether the IRS should be alerting immigration authorities. Instead, it focuses on the agency’s failure to notify people whose numbers were used by others.

Press Release: Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

The IRS is Not Notifying or Providing Sufficient Assistance to Victims of Employment-Related Identity Theft

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not currently notify taxpayers it identifies as victims of employment-related identity theft, nor has it established an effective process to ensure that it sends the required notice to the Social Security Administration (SSA) to alert the SSA of earnings not associated with a victim of employment-related identity theft.

These are two significant findings in an audit report that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) publicly released today.

Employment-related identity theft occurs when someone uses the identity of another person to gain employment. Taxpayers may first realize they are victims of this type of crime when they receive an IRS notice of a discrepancy in the income they reported on their tax return.

The IRS’s Automated Underreporter (AUR) program identifies such discrepancies when it matches taxpayer income reported on third-party information returns (e.g., Forms W-2, Wage and Income Statement) to amounts that taxpayers report on their individual income tax returns.

TIGTA conducted this audit to evaluate the IRS’s AUR processes to identify and assist victims of identity theft. In July 2011, TIGTA reported that the IRS was in a unique position to identify cases of employment-related identity theft. TIGTA recommended that the IRS implement procedures to timely alert taxpayers when it becomes aware that their identity was stolen. However, in this review, TIGTA determined that taxpayers are still not notified.

During the period February 2011 to December 2015, the IRS identified almost 1.1 million taxpayers who were victims of employment-related identity theft. In April 2014, the IRS started a pilot initiative to begin notifying taxpayers that they may be a victim of employment-related identity theft. TIGTA’s review of the pilot notification initiative found that the IRS did not sufficiently design the pilot to include a representative sample of employment-related identity theft victims.

Further, TIGTA found that the IRS has not established an effective process to ensure that it sends the required notice to alert the SSA of earnings not associated with a victim of employment-related identity theft. TIGTA’s review of a statistically valid sample of 71 cases from the population of 1,878 Tax Year 2013 AUR cases closed as identity theft (i.e., cases that involved a discrepancy related to wages reported on the tax return) identified that the SSA has no record of receiving an IRS notice for 15 (21 percent) of the 71 cases.

“Employment-related identity theft can cause significant burden to taxpayers, including the incorrect computation of taxes based on income they did not earn,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

TIGTA made four recommendations in the report. The IRS agreed with three recommendations and partially agreed with the fourth. The IRS plans to take corrective action on the recommendations. In its response to TIGTA’s report, the IRS stated that it has scheduled programming changes that will be implemented in January 2017 to notify taxpayers when the IRS has reason to believe they may be victims of identity theft.

Read the report.

IRS Hacked … Says Thieves Stole Tax Info From 100,000 Taxpayers

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Scratch that … IRS HACKED.

Reason number one why I would never use the IRS electronic filing system. The IRS is admitting that they were hacked and the E-thieves stole the tax information of over 100,000 taxpayers. According to reports, the hackers used the website app service called “Get Transcript”to gain access. The IRS states that the hackers used this app to download forms full of personal information between February and May of 2015.

It’s only a matter of time before the IRS blames this on their budget that was cut.

ABC News:

Sophisticated criminals used an online service run by the IRS to access personal tax information from more than 100,000 taxpayers, part of an elaborate scheme to steal identities and claim fraudulent tax refunds, the IRS said Tuesday.

The thieves accessed a system called “Get Transcript,” where taxpayers can get tax returns and other filings from previous years. In order to access the information, the thieves cleared a security screen that required knowledge about the taxpayer, including Social Security number, date of birth, tax filing status and street address, the IRS said.

“We’re confident that these are not amateurs,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “These actually are organized crime syndicates that not only we but everybody in the financial industry are dealing with.”

Koskinen wouldn’t say whether investigators believe the criminals are based overseas — or where they obtained enough personal information about the taxpayers to access their returns. The IRS has launched a criminal investigation. The agency’s inspector general is also investigating.

Daily Commentary – Friday, August 8, 2014 – Woman Poses for ID Photo at Clerk’s Request

  • The not so bright criminal poses with a stolen ID card after the clerk, who suspects something is wrong, asks her to take a photo with the ID

Daily Commentary – Friday, August 8, 2014 Download

It Begins, Obamacare Enrollees Info Compromised … 400 Connecticut Health-Exchange Enrollees’ Information May Be Compromised

And so it begins … 400 Connecticut Obamacare health-exchange enrollees’ information may have been compromised. A backpack was recovered in Hartford, Connecticut that held “four notepads with personal information for approximately 400 individuals. The backpack also contained Access Health CT paperwork and it appears as though some of that personal information may be associated with Access Health CT accounts. According to the New Haven Register, Hartford Police spokesman Lt. Brian Foley said an officer responded at about 2:15 p.m. to 280 Trumbull St. to meet with an Access Health CT employee regarding an employee possibly taking customer’s personal information. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokesman Aaron Albright said in a statement, “This situation does not involve consumers who have used HealthCare.gov.” Of course those words are about as reputable as the Obamacare, Healthcare.gov website roll-out. These are exactly the concerns many individuals warned of with the use and potential abuse by counselors for the exchanges known as “navigators.”

Obamacare_Access Health CT

The personal information of around 400 health-exchange enrollees may be compromised, according to a statement issued today by Access Health CT CEO Kevin Counihan.

The statement notes that a backpack was recovered in Hartford that held “four notepads with personal information for approximately 400 individuals. The backpack also contained Access Health CT paperwork and it appears as though some of that personal information may be associated with Access Health CT accounts. It is still unclear where the backpack came from, and we are working [with] the Hartford Police Department to investigate, and contact the individuals whose information may be compromised. … Let me be clear: we are sorry this happened. This is a very serious situation and we will hold the person or persons who are responsible to account.”

Kathleen Tallarita, the government and public affairs outreach manager for Access Health CT, told National Review Online by phone that the health exchange does not know yet whether identity theft has occurred,  but “we’re diligently looking into what’s happened.”

Statement from Access Health CT CEO Kevin Counihan:

“Earlier today, we received a report that an individual in Hartford discovered a backpack on Trumbull Street containing four notepads with personal information for approximately 400
individuals. The backpack also contained Access Health CT paperwork and it appears as though some of that personal information may be associated with Access Health CT accounts.

It is still unclear where the backpack came from, and we are working the Hartford Police Department to investigate, and contact the individuals whose information may be compromised.

Makes you wonder how many backpacks have made it out of these health-exchanges that were not found, doesn’t it?

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