WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) cannot determine whether taxpayers

claiming Residential Energy Credits are actually entitled to them, according to a report publicly

released today by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) modified the law related

to energy credits to encourage the purchase of energy-efficient property and renewable sources

of energy for home use. More than 6.8 million individuals claimed more than $5.8 billion in

Residential Energy Credits on Tax Year 2009 tax returns processed through December 31, 2010.

TIGTA assessed the effectiveness of the IRS's process to identify erroneous Residential Energy

Credits, as part of its statutory requirement to monitor the IRS's implementation of the Recovery

Act.

The IRS does not require individuals to provide any third-party documentation to support the

purchase of qualifying home improvement products and/or costs associated with making energy

efficiency improvements and whether these qualified improvements were made to their principal

residences.

Based on a review of a statistically valid sample of 150 tax returns, TIGTA was unable to

confirm homeownership for 45 (30 percent) of the taxpayers. Homeownership is required to

claim Residential Energy Credits.

In addition, TIGTA identified 362 ineligible individuals who were allowed to erroneously claim

$404,578 in Residential Energy Credits on their tax returns. These individuals, including 262

prisoners and 100 individuals under the age of 18, were allowed to erroneously claim these

credits because the IRS did not develop a process to identify prisoners or individuals who are too

young to buy a home. The IRS has data that could have been used to identify these erroneous

credits.

"Federal agencies are required to ensure that Recovery Act funds are used for authorized

purposes and that appropriate measures are taken to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse," said J.

Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. "I am troubled by the

IRS's continued failure to develop appropriate verification methods for distributing Recovery

Act credits."

TIGTA recommended that the IRS: (1) revise the Form 5695, Residential Energy Credits, to

request specific information supporting key eligibility requirements to verify that requirements

were met; (2) examine the tax returns of the 362 individuals TIGTA identified as being in prison

or underage to ensure these individuals qualify for the Residential Energy Credits; and (3)

implement processes to identify and review tax returns filed by prisoners or underage individuals

to ensure they qualify for Residential Energy Credits claimed.

The IRS agreed with the first and third recommendations and plans to take corrective actions.

The IRS partially agreed with the second recommendation. Specifically, the IRS agreed to

review the returns of the 362 individuals identified as being in prison or underage and plans to

audit those tax returns that warrant further examination.