Despite all the tax changes in the past year to stimulate the economy, the Internal Revenue Service appears to be weathering the tax season well so far.
“While we still have some concerns, overall, the IRS has accurately processed most of the returns it received,” commented Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George. “This season, the IRS faces numerous challenges with the various changes implemented over the last year, such as the Recovery Rebate Credit and the First Time Homebuyer Credit.”
In 2008, Congress created a $7,500 First Time Homebuyer Credit to allow taxpayers who are first-time homebuyers a refundable tax credit. Congress later increased the credit to a maximum $8,000 credit in February 2009.
Also in 2008, Congress enacted the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which resulted in the issuance of more than 119 million economic stimulus payments totaling more than $96 billion. Most individuals received the economic stimulus payment in advance of filing their 2008 tax return based on information from their 2007 tax return. Individuals who qualify for a larger payment as a result of changes between their 2007 and 2008 tax returns will receive the Recovery Rebate Credit when they file their 2008 tax return.
TIGTA’s
“The IRS accurately computed the Recovery Rebate Credit on 99.6 percent of the tax returns it processed,” said George. “This is remarkable, given the difficulty taxpayers are having in identifying the amount of their credit. The IRS is effectively handling the growing number of tax returns filed with errors on the credit by hiring seasonal employees earlier, offering overtime to its employees and making changes to its computer programs and operating procedures.”
Regarding the First Time Homebuyer Credit, TIGTA identified 38,158 claims (of the 567,685 claims filed) in which taxpayers may have had ownership in a personal residence within the last three years, which makes them ineligible. The IRS is implementing processes to improve its identification of potentially erroneous or fraudulent claims for the FTHC and recover erroneous FTHC refunds.
Overall to date, the IRS has identified 67,780 returns that fraudulently claim roughly $421 million in refunds. Of those fraudulent refund claims, the IRS was able to prevent the issuance of roughly 89 percent.
“While the IRS has identified a majority of the fraudulent refunds claimed, $44 million was still issued,” said George. “The IRS must do more to prevent the issuance of fraudulent refunds.”
Other significant findings include a 6.1 percent increase in electronic filing compared to the same period in 2008 and a 30.2 percent decrease in use of the Free File Program. The IRS believes this is due to a later start to the filing season, the migration of taxpayers to other free offers in the marketplace, and the elimination of e-filing fees by some software providers.
In addition, callers to the IRS’s toll-free telephone assistance lines are experiencing longer delays than the IRS had planned. The IRS’s 58.8 percent level of service is 20.7 percentage points lower than the actual 2008 filing season. The average speed of answer is currently 9.8 minutes, compared with 5.4 minutes in 2008.
