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Actions Are Needed to Reduce the Risk of Fraudulent Use of Employer Identification Numbers and to Improve the Effectiveness of the Application Process

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Number
2018-40-013
Report Type
Audit
Joint Report
Yes
Participating OIG
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
Agency Wide
Yes (agency-wide)
Questioned Costs
$0
Funds for Better Use
$0
View Report

Recommendations

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should revise internal procedures, application instructions, etc., to require that estate and trust applicants applying on paper provide a responsible party.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should Develop programming to reject applications for which the responsible party is a **2**.
Recommendation rejected by IRS

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should: Ensure the validity of the 71,633 EINs we identified that were assigned to responsible parties who are ***2***..

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should develop programming to reject estate applications if the decedent TIN is not that of a deceased individual.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should ensure the validity of the 26,889 EINs we identified as being assigned to estates for which the decedent TIN was that of a living individual.