To Fight $5.2B In Identity Theft, IRS May Need To Change the Way You File Taxes

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday September 23, 2014 @06:27AM from the your-tax-dollars-at-work dept.

coondoggie writes: Based on preliminary analysis, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates it paid $5.2 billion in fraudulent identity theft refunds in filing season 2013 while preventing an additional $24.2 billion (based on what it could detect). As a result, the IRS needs to implement changes (PDF) in a system that apparently can't begin verifying refund information until July, months after the tax deadline. Such changes could impact legitimate taxpayers by delaying refunds, extending tax season and likely adding costs to the IRS.

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Re:Solution by PRMan · 2014-09-23 06:50 · Score: 3, Funny

Don't tax food or medicine. OK, the discrepancy just halved. Wow. I'm a wizard. Look at how fast I fixed that.

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Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
Re:Simplify Taxes by mcswell · 2014-09-23 08:30 · Score: 4, Funny

New simplified form: Line 1: Enter amount you earned this year: ____ Line 2: Write a check to the IRS for the amount on line 1.