Indicators Used to Prevent Filing of Tax Returns for Deceased Taxpayers Were Incorrectly Placed on Some Taxpayer Accounts

Between February 23, 2022, and March 30, 2022, we alerted IRS management to our concerns and recommended that the Commissioners, Small Business/Self-Employed and Wage and Investment Divisions, review the 77,868 taxpayer accounts that we identified as having a potential erroneous account lock; determine if the deceased account lock was appropriate; and where the account lock was not appropriate, take the appropriate steps to update/correct these accounts including contacting the taxpayer.

Between February 23, 2022, and March 30, 2022, we alerted IRS management to our concerns and recommended that the Commissioners, Small Business/Self-Employed and Wage and Investment Divisions, review the 77,868 taxpayer accounts that we identified as having a potential erroneous account lock; determine if the deceased account lock was appropriate; and where the account lock was not appropriate, take the appropriate steps to update/correct these accounts including contacting the taxpayer.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should review the unresolved 63 accounts to ensure removing the account lock is appropriate, and take the appropriate steps to update/correct these accounts.

Review the 14,193 taxpayer accounts that we identified as having a potential erroneous account lock; determine if the deceased account lock was appropriate; and where the account lock was not appropriate, take the appropriate steps to update/correct these accounts.

Evaluate the taxpayer accounts that were improperly locked to identify the cause of the erroneous actions and provide clarification and/or training to eliminate or reduce further input of erroneous actions.