Identity Theft Victims face IRS resolution issues
The IRS reports that 641,052 taxpayers were the victim of identity theft in calendar year 2011. The significant increase in identity theft of the past few years has overwhelmed the IRS. TIGTA found that identity theft cases were not worked timely and it can take more than a year to resolve the problem for the taxpayer.
TIGTA recommended the following:
1) establish accountability for the Identity Theft Program;
2) implement a process to ensure that IRS notices and correspondence are not sent to the address listed on the identity thief’s tax return;
3) conduct an analysis of the letters sent to taxpayers regarding identity theft;
4) ensure taxpayers are notified when the IRS has received their identifying documents;
5) create a specialized unit in the Accounts Management function to exclusively work identity theft cases;
6) ensure all quality review systems used by IRS functions and offices working identity theft cases are revised to select a representative sample of identity theft cases;
7) revise procedures for the Correspondence Imaging System screening process;
8) ensure programming is adjusted so that identity theft issues can be tracked and analyzed for trends and patterns.
The IRS agreed with all of TIGTA’s recommendations.
Click on the following link to read the complete report:
http://www.treas.gov/tigta/auditreports/….
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