Commissioner Everson Calls For Improvements to Refund Fraud Program
INCOMETAXPRO.NET— Claiming fraudulent deductions is a fast way to IRS hell, jail time, and loss of personal assets. Earned Income Tax Credit EITC was singled out in this article for various reasons, though not explained. Many taxpayers THINK they qualify for Earned Income Tax Credit, but upon IRS further review, do not meet the qualifications. The TaxAct FREE Tax Software includes an easy to use Earned Income Tax Credit EITC checklist. You can prepare your income taxes for free, efile for free, print your income taxes and Earned Income Tax Credit checklist for free. If your situation is complex and you need professional advice fast, get your tax return reviewed and signed by a tax professional. Save money and learn more when you prepare it yourself, submit online, follow up with a tax professional. The $79.95 cost can be deducted from your IRS refund. Use TaxCut's Online “Signature” service and a tax professional can review prior year tax returns too - and get back up to 3 years of missed deductions!
WASHINGTON— IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson today announced that he has directed a review of the Questionable Refund Program, which will include notification procedures pertaining to frozen refunds.
“We will announce plans in the very near future to institute notification procedures as well as significant processing improvements to minimize the number of taxpayers whose refunds are frozen unnecessarily,” Everson said in announcing the review.
The IRS noted that members of Congress and the National Taxpayer Advocate have raised legitimate issues regarding the length of delay and lack of notification for refund claims and have called for changes to the program.
“Claiming fraudulent refunds ultimately undermines the integrity of the tax system, but I believe that appropriate notification should be given when refunds have been frozen,” Everson said. “Honest taxpayers expecting a refund deserve to be treated fairly.”
The IRS established the Questionable Refund Program (QRP) to deal with the serious problem of refund fraud, which has increased significantly in recent years. The IRS estimates that fraudulent refund claims now exceed a half-billion dollars a year. Congress has held a number of hearings urging the IRS to devote additional resources and improve its detection and prevention of fraudulent refunds, particularly those involving prisoners.
The typical fraudulent refund claim involves false income and withholding. A significant portion includes false Earned Income Tax Credit claims of up to $4,400 per return.
According to the IRS, each year it receives more than 130 million individual income tax returns and issues over 100 million refunds totaling over $200 billion. The QRP holds for further scrutiny less than 1 percent of refund returns. Of the refund claims held beyond the normal refund cycle, about 200,000 or 0.2 percent of all refund claims are held longer than one week, and many refunds are held for a period of months or even years.
The IRS has often not sent notices to those taxpayers whose refunds are held because some of these returns are subject to additional criminal investigation. Therefore, the taxpayers may be unaware that their refunds have been frozen.
Source: IRS.gov
Popular Income Tax Pro Pages:
» Refund Anticipation Loan
» IRS 1040 Tax Forms
» Free Efile Tax Software
» Accounting Software
» State Income Tax Forms