TIGTA and Congress focus on identity theft and tax fraud

On the same day the House Ways and Means Oversight and Social Security Subcommittees held a hearing on tax fraud involving identity theft, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released a report saying the IRS does not handle identity theft issues well (TIGTA Rep’t No. 2012-40-050).

Tuesday’s congressional hearing planned to examine how identity theft contributes to tax fraud and whether the IRS and the Social Security Administration are doing enough to protect Social Security numbers and to prevent and detect false tax returns filed by identity thieves.