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Senate Hearing Criticizes IRS's Anti-ID Tax Fraud Efforts
Source:
tax-news.com
- Apr 27, 2016
The US House of Representatives Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight held a hearing on April 19 to review the 2016 tax filing season, which ended on April 18, and, in particular, to discuss efforts to protect taxpayers from identity (ID) theft-related tax fraud and cybersecurity attacks.
Although the steps already taken by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to safeguard taxpayer information were acknowledged, it was agreed that the agency must do still more to protect taxpayers.
The Subcommittee's Chairman, Peter Roskam (R – Illinois), noted that, "in 2012, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) reported the IRS could pay out USD21bn in fraudulent refunds over five years. … While the IRS has taken some steps to prevent and detect identity theft, the agency is not keeping up with the criminals."
In his opening statement, Roskam said that the IRS needs to focus on advanced fraud-detection methods, to improve its information security and outdated software, and to boost its authentication standards, if it is to properly protect taxpayers. "The troubled agency's failure to improve its information security puts all of us at risk," he added. "We need to hold the IRS [more] accountable for protecting taxpayer information and strengthening security."
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Category: General Business
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