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Additional Actions Can Be Taken to Further Reduce Refund Losses Associated With Business Identity Theft

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Number
2018-40-061
Report Type
Audit
Joint Report
Yes
Participating OIG
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
Agency Wide
Yes (agency-wide)
Funds for Better Use
$351,624,431
View Report

Recommendations

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should review each of the 1,097 EINs removed from the Suspicious EIN Listing and determine which EINs should remain on the listing. Ensure that any EINs that remain are properly locked.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should develop processes and procedures to ensure that tax examiners accurately process and document the actions taken to resolve business identity theft cases.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should develop processes and procedures to ensure that transaction codes are properly input, released, and updated when necessary on business identity theft tax accounts.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should develop processes to ensure prompt screening of potential business identity theft returns with high dollar refunds to minimize unnecessarily paying interest.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should develop processes to ensure that refunds associated with the 1,593 confirmed PY 2016 business identity theft tax returns remain frozen from erroneous release.