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Taxpayer First Act: Implementation of Identity Theft Victim Assistance Provisions

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Number
2020-45-070
Report Type
Audit
Special Emphasis
Taxpayer First Act (TFA)
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 develop a multifaceted communication strategy to educate taxpayers on the availability of the IP PIN Opt-In Program and the IRS's plan to implement the provision of the Taxpayer First Act, which requires expansion of this program to all taxpayers.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should, in order to comply with the Taxpayer First Act, develop a process to identify and notify the parents and legal guardians of the fraudulent use of a claimed dependent's TIN to gain employment.
Recommendation rejected by IRS

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should add employment identity theft markers to the 60,872 victims' tax accounts we identified.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should develop procedures to identify and manually add identity theft markers on victims' tax accounts until programming errors are corrected, when appropriate.

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should correct the programming to ensure that all taxpayers' accounts are updated with the employment identity theft marker, as required.