The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released its final report on the 2018 filing season just before the federal government shutdown. As of May 4, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) received over 140 million tax returns, 89% of which were e-filed. The IRS issued over 101 million refunds in 2018, totaling nearly $282 billion.
There remains room for improvement in the IRS’ tax return processing. TIGTA found that $3.7 billion provided to taxpayers as Advance Premium Tax Credits exceeded the amounts to which those taxpayers were entitled, and $1 billion of those funds will not be required to be repaid. Similar issues were found with the American Opportunity Tax Credit — over 230,000 tax returns claiming this credit did not include an educational institution EIN, but the taxpayers received approximately $209 million in this refundable credit.
To read TIGTA’s full report, click here.