The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) recently released its semi-annual report to Congress on federal tax administration for the period from April 1 through September 30, 2018. A major highlight during this period was TIGTA’s success protecting taxpayers from IRS impersonation scams: As of the end of the reporting period, 130 individuals have been charged for their roles in a massive phone scam involving multiple India-based call centers. Twenty-one of those individuals have been sentenced to prison sentences of up to 20 years each, and all are jointly and severally liable for over $8.9 million in restitution.
TIGTA also conducted a review of how returns claiming the Health Coverage Tax Credit are processed, finding that 9.5 percent of returns making this claim were handled in error, with the credit either being allowed where it shouldn’t have, or disallowed where it should. Over $950,000 in erroneous claims were paid to ineligible taxpayers.
Additional room for improvement was found in how the IRS handles third-party authorizations and protects taxpayers’ personal data, private collection security practices, and technology assets. To read TIGTA’s full report, click here.
