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Watchdog Says IRS Must Work with Banks to Prevent Tax Refund Fraud
By Colby Adams
printThe Internal Revenue Service must improve communication with financial institutions to detect and prevent criminals from using stolen social security and tax identification numbers to claim a tax refund, according to U.S. officials. In a report published Wednesday, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said that the federal tax agency paid out $5.8 billion in fraudulent identity theft refunds in 2013, often to criminal organizations that "exploit the speed and anonymity" of the tax return filing process. Under pressure from taxpayers, the IRS often pays out refunds before screening information supplied on claims against identifying data included in W-2 forms and...
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