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The IRS Is Encouraging Stolen SS Numbers


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http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2016/04/13/irs-admits-it-encourages-illegals-to-steal-social-security-numbers-for-taxes/#2ae738ee237a

 

This isnt exactly the kind of story the IRS wants buzzing around at tax time. The IRS and Justice Department normally want scared straight stories just before Tax Day. Ideally, when an indictment or conviction for tax evasion hits the news, it makes you think twice. Somehow, you think just a bit more about all those deductions, or if you really reported all your income, before you sign your return under penalties of perjury.

 

Instead, we have the top dog at the IRS, the IRS Commissioner himself, admitting that, well, theres a problem with illegal immigrants and taxes. In fact, the top IRS official this time wasnt talking about how the IRS wipes some hard drives or cant find emails. He wasnt even asking for a bigger budget to give bonuses to IRS employees.

 

This time, he was talking about illegal immigrants, and about the IRS turning a blind eye. Or maybe worse. The IRS actually wants illegal immigrants to illegally use Social Security numbers, he suggested. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen made the surprising statement in response to a question from Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., at a Senate Finance Committee meeting. The question was a touchy one. Gee, is the IRS collaborating with taxpayers who file tax returns using fraudulent information? It wasnt put exactly that way. According to Senator Coats:

 

"What we learned is that the IRS continues to process tax returns with false W-2 information and issue refunds as if they were routine tax returns, and say thats not really our job. We also learned the IRS ignores notifications from the Social Security Administration that a name does not match a Social Security number, and you use your own system to determine whether a number is valid.

 

Commissioner Koskinen was asked to explain this. He suggested that as long as the information is being used only to fraudulently obtain jobs, the IRS was OK with it. In fact, he said that the IRS actually had an interest in helping the illegal immigrants to crook these rules. In fairness, perhaps its just the thats not my department response that abounds in big government. Perhaps this just isnt the IRSs problem, but it sure seems odd to have any agency chief encouraging illegal immigrant theft of SSNs.

 

 

 

 

 

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In the case of identity theft, by allowing illegal aliens to use stolen SSN, they can effectively lower the overall refund amount by forcing additional income onto the legal citizen. -especially since no alien is going to withhold taxes on their paycheck.

 

It could take years to resolve the issue, in which case they basically give the government an interest free loan (and in some cases) complete denial of funds if the tax-payer loses their will to fight it. (especially if the legal cost is more than the money owed to them).

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Along those same lines, the IRS initiated a PIN program wherein taxpayers could register for a personal identification number as a further guard against identity theft when e-filing. The site was hacked and the IRS closed it down in midstream thus dumping the effort to guard against id theft.

 

This from the agency in charge of taxation and, for an encore, the ACA.

 

Sail On, Oh Ship of State!

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Along those same lines, the IRS initiated a PIN program wherein taxpayers could register for a personal identification number as a further guard against identity theft when e-filing. The site was hacked and the IRS closed it down in midstream thus dumping the effort to guard against id theft.

 

This from the agency in charge of taxation and, for an encore, the ACA.

 

Sail On, Oh Ship of State!

 

Yeah, I've been dealing with that system the past two days. Can't e-file because I need the IP-PIN from that site, which I can't get because they shut down the site because it put people at risk of identity theft. :wacko:

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I got a six digit PIN when I applied; my wife got a five digit PIN. Our tax guy just laughed when I emailed him the IRS forms - mine showing a six digit #, my wife's with five digits. He told me that five digits are correct. What an outfit, that IRS!

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