IRS employees commit tax fraud
The Washington Times reports that more than 100 IRS employees falsely gave themselves a first time home buyers tax credit last year;
The Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration, in several reports over the past few years, has identified a total of 128 IRS employees who claimed the credit but who also made other claims that showed they either weren’t first-time buyers or bought their homes outside the eligibility period for the credit, which was worth up to $8,000.
Meanwhile, one other IRS employee has been charged with using her position to try to help friends and relatives take advantage of the credit, which was signed by President Bush and then boosted under President Obama’s 2009 stimulus law.
The IRS employees represented a small part of the total fraud in the program, which the inspector general said may have totaled more than a half-billion dollars overall. The inspector general said refundable tax credits, which transfer money back to taxpayers even when their tax liability is zero, “are targets for fraud.”
I had to send in a certified copy of my deed to prove that I was qualified for the tax credit.
Federal prosecutors in Boston say Michael E. Doyle of New Hampshire, who worked for the IRS for about 20 years and who was a supervisor in its Andover, Mass., office, claimed he had bought a home on April 15, 2008. In reality, he bought the home for $260,000 on Aug. 15, 2007, months before the eligibility period.
Mr. Doyle’s attorney didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.
In another case, part-time IRS employee Catherine Griffin in Georgia has been charged with altering information in IRS computers to help four friends and family members appear eligible for the credit. She charged them $2,000 each.
128 employees committing fraud is an epidemic.
More than 1,000 prisoners who received the credit despite being incarcerated at the time.
Yeah, well we expect felons to commit crimes.
Category: Taxes
Make ’em all run a gauntlet of angry TEA Party taxpayers.
Jonn-
This is why they now require the settlement statement to be attached to the returns and also why accountants charge more to process these returns and anyone claiming the earned income credit as well- because of the risk of fraud, perpetrated by loose interpretations of eligibility if you can believe it.
One of the hidden costs of that “incentive program” that has never been identified….interest payments to all of the taxpayers that had their returns delayed. I got $92.40 in interest (return was delayed until mid-June)……and then had to declare it on my taxes for the next year.
Only the government could have screwed this up.
They’re just following the lead of their boss, Timmy “Turbotax” Geitner.
I can’t wait to see how endemic the fraud will be in the IRS if ObamaCare isn’t repealed.
I guess those 128 IRS employees of ours are now qualifed to be Secretary of the Treasury, or Wall Street and SEC IG.
And this is a violation of just 1 part of the law.
This is really beyond stupid! I am an IRS employee, and know every one of us gets their return run through a computer audit every year. If there are any questions you get to discuss your return with the “Office of Employee Compliance”. If any hint of fraud is found, you get to talk to the law enforcement agents that work for “The Inspector General for Tax Affairs.” That is a special privilege your average tax evader doesn’t get, they get a call from a revenue officer and a lien on their property and a levy on the bank account. I see accounts every day from small business owners that owe hundreds of thousands of dollars, and as long as they pay it, no time served. Just penalties and interest. You can bet that every one of those 128 people will do time if they find intentional fraud, and they will deserve every second they get, it’s just a shame they don’t add time for stupidity.
My ex(IRS employee) admitted under oath i in court to fraud transcripts sent IRS NOTHING