Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA)

Tomorrow at 11AM CT, we're participating in a virtual town hall sponsored by AARP Mississippi to teach people how to avoid scammers posing as IRS agents. Hear from one of our Special Agents about how to protect yourself from the tricks scammers are using this tax season. We'll be joined by the Social Security Administration and AARP Fraud Watch Network. You can watch on the AARP Mississippi Facebook page or dial 833-380-0675. We hope you can join us! https://lnkd.in/gDFr4m76

We just issued our latest report showing the results of the IRS Direct File Pilot between February 1, 2024, and April 20, 2024. Why did we do this review? -Direct File is a free federal tax preparation tool that was piloted by the IRS in the 2024 tax filing season. Once a taxpayer submits their federal tax return in Direct File, it is transmitted and processed just like all other electronically filed returns received by the IRS. What did we find? -The IRS reported $24.6M in costs to develop and run the pilot. However, not all costs were included. For example, IRS did not include an estimated $7.3M incurred by the Office of Management and Budget for employees who helped develop and pilot Direct File. -During the pilot, more than 423,00 taxpayers created or signed in to a Direct File account. Approximately 161,000 of these taxpayers submitted a tax return, and nearly 141,000 had their return accepted. -Error and identity theft rates for tax returns submitted through Direct File were similar to or lower than other tax software providers. -During the 2024 tax filing season, 12 states participated in the pilot. An additional 13 states committed to participate during the 2025 tax filing season. State participation was limited by several factors. For example, some states were unable to secure funding to update their systems to integrate with Direct File. Taxpayers may be less likely to use Direct File if they cannot also use it to submit their state tax return. Read the full report: https://lnkd.in/euMKha5N

We issued three reports this week that reviewed IRS's management and spending of Inflation Reduction Act funds and the agency's procedures for issuing refunds to deceased taxpayers. Read more about what we found: https://lnkd.in/eMbjwqQa

We issued the following audits and evaluations this week: -Internal Revenue Service Oversight of Tax-Exempt Organization Private Aircraft Usage -The Taxpayer Advocate Service Office of Systemic Advocacy Needs to Improve Program Oversight to Ensure Taxpayer Problems Are Effectively Identified and Resolved -The IRS Implemented the Information Returns Intake System, Although Users Experienced Some Slight Processing Delays During Peak Processing -Implementation of the Clean Vehicle Tax Credits -The Unanticipated Large Number of Taxpayers Created Safety and Security Challenges at Some Taxpayer Assistance Center Saturday Help Events You can find them all in our report library: https://lnkd.in/dZE39i6Z

Today, we're partnering with other agencies to help protect you from fraudsters who impersonate IRS employees and try to steal your money through text messages or phone calls demanding immediate payment. Don't pay them. Report them: https://lnkd.in/eh4fFBvU TIGTA is dedicated to protecting our nation's tax system and we have the stats to back it up. As of February 2025, more than 16,000 victims reported to us that they had collectively lost more than $114M to impersonation scams. We investigated nearly 1,000 impersonation scams, resulting in 251 convictions and more than 1,000 years of combined prison sentences and $256M to be paid in restitution.

That random text you got promising a $1,400 Economic Impact Payment? 📱 💵 It's not from a secret admirer. It's from a scammer. Don't let them lead you on. We'd ♥️ if you reported it to our hotline: https://lnkd.in/eh4fFBvU

Here's what IRS oversight looked like this week. We issued two reports that reviewed: 💵 Procedures to identify and prevent erroneous refunds from dishonored (or bounced) checks. From January 2023 through March 2024, the IRS processed over 1.5 million dishonored checks submitted as subsequent payments (e.g., payments received after a return is filed) totaling nearly $4.7 billion. The IRS doesn't have a computer program that delays refund issuance for a sufficient time to allow it to receive dishonored check information from financial institutions. Therefore, the IRS is at risk of generating millions of dollars in erroneous refunds. We identified 7,765 individual taxpayers who may have received approximately $43.7 million in erroneous refunds based on dishonored checks that posted to their tax accounts from January 2023 through March 2024. We recommended the IRS should ensure a computer programming change is completed to delay these types of refunds for two cycles to provide the IRS time to receive dishonored check information from financial institutions. 📑 IRS's update to its Inflation Reduction Act Strategic Operating Plan. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided the IRS with $57.8 billion (after rescissions) to improve taxpayer services, update antiquated computer systems, and increase compliance and enforcement actions. In April 2023, the IRS issued a Strategic Operating Plan (SOP) that identified the highest-priority opportunities to deliver transformational changes for taxpayers using IRA funding. In May 2024, the IRS updated the SOP and issued a supplemental report. We reviewed it to see if it provides a clear framework of the agency's plan to transform tax administration. The Transformation and Strategy Office (TSO) retains the responsibility for oversight and establishing strategic direction, but operating divisions now have the responsibility for executing the transformation projects. With the new structure, the transformation leads within the TSO are working with the operating divisions to ensure that the transformation is moving forward. Read the entire reports: https://lnkd.in/dZE39i6Z

📢 SCAM ALERT 📢 Scammers are impersonating the IRS and texting taxpayers asking for sensitive information. They're making taxpayers think it's to get an Economic Impact Payment. But it's a scam to steal their personal data. Don’t take the bait. Don't respond. Report this scam to our hotline. https://lnkd.in/eh4fFBvU These scammers are preying on the IRS’s recent announcement to issue automatic payments to eligible people who did not claim the Recovery Rebate Credit (also known as an Economic Impact Payment) on their 2021 tax returns. The IRS stated that no action is needed by eligible taxpayers to receive these payments. Instead, they will go out automatically and taxpayers should receive them by the end of this month. The payments will be automatically direct deposited or sent by paper check. Here are some helpful hints to spot a scam: -The IRS will NOT request personal or financial information by text. -Federal government website addresses always end in ".gov". Scammers often will make up an official sounding website address, but it has a ".com".

Harford County Man Sentenced for Aggravated Identity Theft and Bank Fraud Scheme Announced with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) Learn more at https://lnkd.in/eNVVySS9.

We're all about making sure taxpayer money is spent wisely. Most of the time, we do it by identifying potential cost savings at the IRS. But recently, we helped a county government save money. Here's how: We had hundreds of smartphones that we no longer needed but were still usable. 📱 We listed them on a federal system managed by the GSA that enables other agencies and certain organizations to obtain surplus government equipment. The Essex County Sheriff’s Department in Massachusetts requested the smartphones to use for emergency support, and they were transferred to them for free. Most of the smartphones are living a second life with the county’s regional search and rescue teams, who will use them to track suspects and missing and/or endangered persons.