New pact to deny crooks tax refunds
The Advertiser-Tribune – The U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the Internal Revenue Service agreed to stop criminals from getting improper income tax refunds.
As mentioned in an editorial last month, Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and three other senators pressed the IRS and prison bureau to stop federal inmates from getting millions of dollars in bogus tax refunds. The senators pointed out convicts filing fraudulent returns conned the Treasury out of $123 million during the past five years. IRS figures put that total at $295 million.
An agreement signed Wednesday between the two agencies aims to overcome legal obstacles to halt that practice. Better yet, states may be able to follow suit in order to prevent tax fraud by inmates at state prisons.
"Government agencies need to work together to prevent tax fraud wherever it occurs, but especially when we're being bilked from behind bars." Brown said.
