The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) today publicly released its review of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) efforts to increase the effectiveness of the Tax Exempt/Government Entities (TE/GE) Division's anti-fraud program.

TIGTA found that the Division's five offices have implemented changes to their anti-fraud programs, resulting in more potential fraud being identified. More cases are referred to the IRS Criminal Investigation Division for further investigation and to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. However, the effectiveness of anti-fraud programs varies by office, with one of the five offices responsible for most of the referrals for investigation and prosecution.

TIGTA recommended that the TE/GE Division develop and implement a uniform, Division-wide approach with centralized oversight for its anti-fraud program and ensure that all TE/GE offices follow IRS procedures. The IRS agreed with TIGTA's recommendations and provided planned actions to address them.

TIGTA conducted the audit as a follow-up to its September 2003 and September 2005 reports on the TE/GE Division's efforts to improve its fraud detection and prevention program.

"The Tax Exempt Division has made significant progress in detecting and preventing fraud," stated J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. "However, the IRS should ensure that all of the Division's offices are effectively implementing anti-fraud programs. An effective anti-fraud program will provide greater assurance that the trust placed in tax-exempt organizations by taxpayers and the good work done by most of them are not tarnished," Inspector General George added.