Hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Discussing Remedies to Tax Frauds

On Tuesday there had been a hearing of The Senate Finance Committee discussing the matter to deal with tax frauds and finding out the solutions. The major matter that was cause of concern was the problem of identity thief. Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont said that identity thief is some really serious issue and is growing at great rate particularly tax-related identity theft. He also stated, “In reality, of course, Kipp still lived on his 10 acres in Pray with his wife of 11 years, Heidi, and their three children.” He added, “Someone had stolen Kipp’s identity and filed a false tax return using his Social Security number. That is where the nightmare began. He drew the attention by explaining that the Obama administration has also included several significant tax fraud deterrence suggestions in its fiscal year 2014 budget.

Finance Committee Staffers Victimized: Ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah had also agreed with Baucus that the prolific crime of tax fraud by identity theft is a serious issue that seriously required to be accounted for. “I share the concerns of many throughout our country regarding tax fraud by identity theft,” he added, “From 2010 to 2011, the number of these crimes nearly tripled, and going from about 440,000 to over 1.1 million.”

A person representing the American Institute of CPAs recommended a several remedies to the problems of identity theft and tax fraud during the hearing. For instance employers should be required to impart employees a W-2 with their full Social Security number.

On the other hand National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson elicited that the rifts in the IRS’s budget since 2010 are aggravating the agency’s ability to fight tax-related identity theft and facilitate taxpayers. Olson also suggested that Congress should bring out again tax preparer regulation.

According to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, pressed IRS Acting Commissioner Miller, agents can to access taxpayer emails without permission, notwithstanding a court opinion to the contrary. “The IRS has a very high burden to treat taxpayers within legal bounds and without abusive intrusion of privacy,” said Grassley