IRS Okays Taxpayer Fraud

There are more problems at the Internal Revenue Service than the fact that the agency is targeting political and religious groups. This one has to do with the report, “Substantial Changes Are Needed to the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number Program to Detect Fraudulent Applications.”

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration says the IRS sent more than $18 million in tax refunds to the same address in three separate California cities in 2011. They include Oxnard, where the IRS sent 2,507 refunds worth $10,395,874; an address in San José,where the IRS sent 1,942 refunds worth $5,091,027; and an address in Arvin, where the IRS sent 1,846 refunds worth $3,298,877.

Meanwhile, two other California cities have been found to be some of the most often used addresses on Individual Taxpayer Identification Number applications in the nation. They are Orange, with 8,361 people and Los Angeles, with 8,337 people. Finally, an address in Thermal received 95 tax returns, for a total of $402, 274 in refund, with 67 people register to the address.

California isn’t the only state with multiple ITIN’s and addresses. The report shows there are a total of 154 addresses across the U.S. appearing on more than a thousand ITIN applications submitted to the IRS in 2011.