This year, especially if you’re in the Deep South, the IRS is targeting extremely poor families that use the cheapest method of filing their taxes such as TurboTax and other similar low-cost alternatives to H&R Block and other large Tax Preparation services to file their taxes. Our eyes and ears indicate that Waitresses and other low-income individuals whom have been claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC) for their children or other family members that are legal to claim within the Tax Code are now being audited and are being forced to provide mountains of data to the IRS in order to receive their refunds – and because of the enormous amount of paperwork that has to be submitted and the IRS advising people who call-in questioning whether they have submitted exactly what they require – and given answers that will automatically result in the denial of the EIC, will result in hundreds of thousands, or even millions of families that will be screwed out of their EIC because of a mistake by the IRS that opened-up the IRS to massive fraud; we can appreciate that the IRS is attempting to stop the fraud, however, once they quit issuing Tax Refunds on Debit Cards they effectively halted most of the fraudulent claims:
IRS policies help fuel tax refund fraud, officials say
By Scott Zamost and Randi Kaye, CNN Special Investigations Unitupdated 9:08 AM EDT, Tue March 20, 2012
North Miami Beach, Florida (CNN) — Criminals across the country are raking in billions of dollars in tax refunds through a new and brazen form of fraud that takes advantage of the IRS’s fast online returns, law enforcement officials say.Using laptops and free Wi-Fi connections, criminals are stealing identities and using the names of legitimate taxpayers to file fraudulent online tax returns. They’ve raked in billions, buying luxury cars, expensive jewelry and plastic surgery, police said.
“It’s like the federal government is putting crack cocaine in candy machines,” said Detective Craig Catlin of the North Miami Beach, Florida, Police Department. “It’s that easy.”
First, thieves obtain Social Security numbers and other personal information from insiders at hospitals, doctor’s offices, car dealerships or anywhere the information is stored. Then, they file an online tax return using the real taxpayer’s name and a fictitious income. In most cases, the criminals buy a debit card so the IRS can issue the refund on that card, although some thieves have also gotten their returns on actual Treasury checks. MUCH MORE
In one case that I am acutely aware of, an individual called the IRS to inquire what other information they needed and was told that all that was necessary was to send in a certified copy of his birth certificate; after he paid $55.00 to get a certified copy of his birth certificate he called in again and was told by another IRS Agent that much more data was required, including but not limited to ALL of the household bills and other information that the first IRS Agent stated was not necessary to provide. If he had listened to the first IRS Agent, there is no question that his claim for the EIC would be denied, and based on that experience, it is my advice to completely ignore what IRS Agents state on the phone and strictly adhere to what the Notice of Audit Letter stated had to be submitted. It is my personal opinion that the IRS is attempting to reclaim the billions of dollars they lost through fraud based on their own mistaken policy of allowing refunds to be applied directly to Debit Cards off the backs of the poorest Americans – and it’s working. Families that have claimed the same children on their Tax Returns for 14 to 16 years are now being required to spend enormous amounts of time and money to various state agencies and third party companies to prove they are who they say they are, and what is ominous to me is what the IRS indicates on their service that tracks your refund:
Refund Status Results
We have received your tax return and it is being reviewed. For more information, please continue.
Please read the following information related to your tax situation:If you have questions or need additional information, please have the following on hand when you call:
- A copy of this page.
- A copy of your tax return.
- The Social Security Number, Filing Status, and refund amount claimed on your return.
- Any notice that you have received concerning your refund.
Please mention reference number XXXX to the IRS Customer Service Representative:
Dana Lee says: pschwartz.... you serious need to have your brain removed... oh wait... you...