Targeted News Service

Treasury IG for Tax Administration: 'The Process To Resolve Identity Theft Cases Is Long, Costly, and Frustrating for Taxpayers'

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration issued the following report (No. 2026-100-050) on Sept. 21, 2026, entitled "The Process To Resolve Identity Theft Cases Is Long, Costly, and Frustrating for Taxpayers."

Here are excerpts:

* * *

Why TIGTA Did This Audit

The Identity Theft Victim Assistance (IDTVA) function evaluates taxpayers' claims of identity theft (IDT) and some IRS identified potential IDT cases. The IRS aims to resolve IDT claims within 120 calendar days of receipt.

However, in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, IDTVA case receipts nearly quadrupled ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration issued the following report (No. 2026-100-050) on Sept. 21, 2026, entitled "The Process To Resolve Identity Theft Cases Is Long, Costly, and Frustrating for Taxpayers." Here are excerpts: * * * Why TIGTA Did This Audit The Identity Theft Victim Assistance (IDTVA) function evaluates taxpayers' claims of identity theft (IDT) and some IRS identified potential IDT cases. The IRS aims to resolve IDT claims within 120 calendar days of receipt. However, in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, IDTVA case receipts nearly quadrupledin volume, in part due to the pandemic. This caused a backlog of unworked cases that has persisted into FY 2025. We evaluated the IRS's efforts to reduce the inventory backlog of IDT cases.

Impact on Tax Administration

The Taxpayer First Act (enacted in 2019) requires the IRS to establish standards for detecting and preventing instances of IDT and tax refund fraud while expediting the investigation and resolution of IDT and refund processing. It also requires the IRS to notify taxpayers about case initiations and any determinations made about their IDT cases. From FY 2023 through FY 2025, taxpayers have waited 20 months on average for the IRS to process their IDT case. These lengthy delays can frustrate and burden taxpayers while they wait to receive their refunds. Further, the delays cause the IRS to pay interest on the delayed refunds.

What TIGTA Found

IRS management took some actions to reduce the backlog of IDT cases, such as increasing the number of fully trained staff to address IDT cases. However, further actions are needed to reduce the IDTVA function's case inventory backlog to a manageable level.

Once potential IDT is identified, IDTVA places the case into an unassigned inventory. These cases are worked on a first-in, first-out basis and will remain unassigned until an assistor is available. We determined that the IRS needs to improve how it assigns and processes IDTVA cases. We reviewed 114 IDT cases that were closed during FY 2023 and identified that the average processing time was nearly 2 years. However, we determined that most of this time was spent waiting for an assistor to be available to work on the case.

These processing delays are costly to the government. For example, we determined that the IRS paid approximately $124.2 million in refund interest on cases closed by IDTVA from FY 2023 through FY 2025.

In addition, the IDTVA function does not always update taxpayers on the status of their IDT cases. For example, in FY 2023, the IDTVA sent acknowledgment letters to only 33 (29 percent) of the 114 IDT cases we reviewed. Based on our analysis, we estimate that over 50,000 taxpayers did not receive correspondence for status updates concerning their IDT cases. In FY 2024, IDTVA revised its policies to discontinue sending acknowledgment letters for taxpayer-initiated IDT cases due to the potential for fraud and does not send acknowledgment letters to taxpayers if the IRS identifies the potential IDT. In these IRS identified cases, the taxpayer may not know that their return has been flagged for potential IDT and individuals may be deprived of the information needed to protect themselves from further harm. In either case, this means that some taxpayers do not hear anything from the IRS about the status of their IDT case while they wait on average almost 20 months for the IRS to resolve their cases.

What TIGTA Recommended

We made three recommendations to the Chief, Taxpayer Services including: developing procedures to expedite assignment of cases to active inventory; developing and implementing procedures for providing identity theft acknowledgment letters to all affected taxpayers upon receipt of a Form 14039, Identity Theft Affidavit, claim or when potential IDT is suspected on a taxpayer's account; and that Taxpayer Services develop a process to verify that acknowledgment letters are sent, as appropriate, and that all taxpayers receive a closing letter.

IRS management agreed with two of our recommendations. They disagreed with the third recommendation, stating that they already have processes in place to verify that the appropriate acknowledgment and closing letters are sent.

* * *

The report is posted at: https://www.tigta.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2026-09/2026100050fr.pdf

Treasury IG for Tax Administration: 'The IRS's National Distribution Center Continues to Face Declining Demand'

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration issued the following report (No. 2026-IE-R016) on Sept. 21, 2026, entitled "The IRS's National Distribution Center Continues to Face Declining Demand."

Here are excerpts:

* * *

Why TIGTA Did This Evaluation

We initiated this evaluation to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of IRS operations at the National Distribution Center (NDC).

The NDC provides planning and

order fulfillment of IRS products to help taxpayers meet their tax obligations and to support internal IRS operations. The NDC stores paper ... Show Full Article

Treasury IG for Tax Administration: 'Statutory Review of Disclosure of Collection Activity With Respect to Joint Return Filers'

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration issued the following report (No. 2026-300-052) on Sept. 16, 2026, entitled "Statutory Review of Disclosure of Collection Activity With Respect to Joint Return Filers."

Here are excerpts:

* * *

Why TIGTA Did This Audit

The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 requires us to annually review and certify the IRS's compliance with the requirements of Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) Section (Sec.) 6103(e)(8). Section 6103(e)(8) authorizes the IRS to disclose in writing certain collection activity information ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration issued the following report (No. 2026-300-052) on Sept. 16, 2026, entitled "Statutory Review of Disclosure of Collection Activity With Respect to Joint Return Filers." Here are excerpts: * * * Why TIGTA Did This Audit The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 requires us to annually review and certify the IRS's compliance with the requirements of Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) Section (Sec.) 6103(e)(8). Section 6103(e)(8) authorizes the IRS to disclose in writing certain collection activity informationwhen requested in writing by taxpayers. Specifically, taxpayers who filed jointly and are no longer married or do not reside in the same household are entitled to certain information. This includes whether the IRS attempted to collect the balance due from the other individual, the general nature of such collection activities, and the amount collected. I.R.C. Sec.Sec. 6103(e)(6) and (e)(7) allow authorized representatives of joint filers to also receive the same collection information requested under I.R.C. Sec. 6103(e)(8).

Impact on Tax Administration

If the IRS does not provide taxpayers with account information to which they are entitled, taxpayers could be burdened and their ability to resolve their tax obligations may be negatively impacted. If the IRS provides taxpayers with account information to which they are not entitled, taxpayer rights to privacy are violated.

What TIGTA Found

The IRS does not have a system or process that tracks joint filer requests and its responses to these requests, relating to the I.R.C. Sec. 6103(e)(8) requirements. Using keyword searches, we identified 780 taxpayer requests for collection activity information on jointly filed returns where the taxpayers were now either divorced or separated. We selected 100 of these cases for review. These cases were worked by IRS employees from April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025.

We determined that disclosure requirements were not followed in 28 (28 percent) of the 100 cases. Specifically, we found that taxpayers, or their representatives, did not receive information related to collection activities of the taxpayers' joint liabilities to which they were entitled, or the taxpayers' information was inappropriately disclosed. These taxpayers were either potentially burdened with additional delays in resolving their respective tax matter or potentially had their right to privacy violated. Six of the 28 cases for which disclosure requirements were not followed had "mirrored accounts" (a process by which joint returns are split into two separate taxpayer accounts on IRS data systems). The same collection information, when requested for mirrored accounts, should be disclosed to both taxpayers as would be disclosed for any other jointly filed return, except for unrelated personal information.

Because the IRS does not track noncompliance with the joint filer provisions, we also interviewed 25 employees and 6 managers to determine what collection activity information they would disclose from a jointly filed return, whether the taxpayers were currently married, separated, or divorced, and with mirrored or non-mirrored accounts. Twenty-one employees and five managers interviewed either responded incorrectly or were unsure about one or more questions related to what information should be disclosed.

The IRS has recently deployed artificial intelligence assisted tools, e.g., Ask Internal Revenue Manual Assistant (Ask IRMA) and Artificial Intelligence Research Companion (Archie), to help employees conduct research. We found during our interviews that over half of the employees and managers interviewed were not aware of or have not used these tools.

What TIGTA Recommended

We recommended that the IRS should provide mandatory training on the new artificial intelligence tools, such as Ask IRMA and Archie, to all employees in Accounts Management and Field Assistance who have direct contact with taxpayers. The training should include ways to identify guidance regarding I.R.C. Sec.Sec. 6103(e)(7) and (e)(8) and determine what information must or must not be disclosed in situations involving a jointly filed return of divorced or separated taxpayer. IRS management agreed with our recommendation.

* * *

The report is posted at: https://www.tigta.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2026-09/2026300052fr.pdf

State Department IG: 'Inspection of Embassy Guatemala City, Guatemala'

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The State Department Inspector General issued the following audit report (No. ISP-I-26-17) entitled "Inspection of Embassy Guatemala City, Guatemala."

Here are excerpts:

* * *

What OIG Inspected

OIG inspected Embassy Guatemala City's achievement of foreign policy goals and objectives, policy and program implementation, consular operations, resource management, and information management.

What OIG Found

* Embassy Guatemala City drafted a strategic framework in 2025 and was making progress in advancing U.S. foreign policy goals by deepening bilateral ties and ... Show Full Article

Justice IG: 'Audit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Acquisition and Life Cycle Management of Major Equipment Supporting Food Services'

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The Justice Inspector General issued the following audit report (No. 26-100) entitled "Audit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Acquisition and Life Cycle Management of Major Equipment Supporting Food Services":

Here are excerpts:

* * *

Introduction

During fiscal year (FY) 2024, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), served approximately 428,000 meals per day (more than 150 million meals) to more than 150,000 inmates across its 118 institutions. The BOP Food Services Department (Food Services) is responsible for ensuring all BOP inmates receive three nutritionally ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The Justice Inspector General issued the following audit report (No. 26-100) entitled "Audit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Acquisition and Life Cycle Management of Major Equipment Supporting Food Services": Here are excerpts: * * * Introduction During fiscal year (FY) 2024, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), served approximately 428,000 meals per day (more than 150 million meals) to more than 150,000 inmates across its 118 institutions. The BOP Food Services Department (Food Services) is responsible for ensuring all BOP inmates receive three nutritionallybalanced meals per day in a manner that meets government health and safety regulations. To meet these health and safety requirements, it is critical that BOP institutions effectively manage and maintain the equipment used for food storage and preparation, such as refrigeration units (coolers and freezers), kettles, ovens, dish machines (large commercial dishwasher), grills, and skillets. Ensuring the continued functionality of such equipment is primarily the responsibility of the BOP Facilities Management Branch (Facilities), which must coordinate with Food Services when routine maintenance, repair, or replacement is required on the more than 5,700 pieces of major food service equipment currently recorded as being utilized across BOP institutions.

Objective

Prior work by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) raised concerns about the effectiveness of BOP's maintenance of its major food service equipment. 1 As a result of this prior work, the OIG initiated this audit with the objective of evaluating the BOP's acquisition and life-cycle management of major equipment supporting food services.

Results in Brief

To meet its food service mission, each BOP institution, in coordination with the BOP Central Office, must effectively plan for the acquisition and maintenance of the equipment it uses for food storage and preparation. Cost-effective acquisition and the continued functionality of major food service equipment are primarily the responsibility of Facilities, which must coordinate with Food Services on the routine maintenance, repair, and replacement needs at the institution level. However, we found that the BOP's current approach to managing the acquisition and life cycle of its major food service equipment could be significantly improved.

More specifically, we found a lack of clarity related to responsibilities among Food Services and Facilities staff due to an inconsistent understanding throughout the BOP as to what qualifies as "major food service equipment." Without a consistent understanding of this definition, local institutions are left to negotiate responsibility for the required routine maintenance, repair, and replacement costs for these important assets. Compounding this problem is a poorly controlled system of records, which many personnel at the institution level do not know how to properly use. The lack of internal controls and training on this system leads to incomplete and inaccurate data that greatly hinders the BOP's ability to develop a replacement strategy for major food service equipment. In addition, we found that the BOP struggles to fill key positions with the appropriate skillsets for modern repair and maintenance needs. The inability to attract employees with specialized skills in areas such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), electrical, and plumbing contributes to the BOP's inability to properly maintain, repair, and plan for the replacement of costly assets.

Conclusion and Summary of Recommendations

To ensure it meets all health and food safety requirements, the BOP must take immediate steps to make certain that its Food Services Department and Facilities Management Branch effectively coordinate on the routine maintenance, repair, and replacement of its major food service equipment.

In addition, it must ensure that the system used for managing thousands of pieces of such equipment contains complete and accurate data so that proper long-term budgeting and replacement planning is possible across the enterprise. The BOP should also assess whether existing Facilities staff are adequately trained to satisfy current job requirements and take steps to address any inadequately trained Facilities staff.

We make five recommendations to assist the BOP in its efforts to more effectively manage and maintain its major food service equipment.

* * *

View full report at: https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/26-100.pdf

HHS IG: 'Medicare Advantage Compliance Audit of Specific Diagnosis Codes That UnitedHealthcare of Wisconsin, Inc."

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The Health and Human Services Inspector General issued the following report (No. A-07-24-01214) entitled "Medicare Advantage Compliance Audit of Specific Diagnosis Codes That UnitedHealthcare of Wisconsin, Inc. (Contract H5253) Submitted to CMS" filed under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:

Here are excerpts:

* * *

Why OIG Did This Audit

* Under the Medicare Advantage (MA) program, CMS makes monthly payments to MA organizations based in part on the health status of the enrollees being covered.

* To determine the health status of enrollees, CMS ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The Health and Human Services Inspector General issued the following report (No. A-07-24-01214) entitled "Medicare Advantage Compliance Audit of Specific Diagnosis Codes That UnitedHealthcare of Wisconsin, Inc. (Contract H5253) Submitted to CMS" filed under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Here are excerpts: * * * Why OIG Did This Audit * Under the Medicare Advantage (MA) program, CMS makes monthly payments to MA organizations based in part on the health status of the enrollees being covered. * To determine the health status of enrollees, CMSrelies on MA organizations to collect diagnosis codes from their providers and submit these codes to CMS. Some diagnoses are at higher risk for being miscoded, which may result in overpayments from CMS.

* This audit of UnitedHealthcare of Wisconsin, Inc. (United), is part of a series of audits of high-risk diagnosis codes that MA organizations submitted to CMS for use in its risk adjustment program.

What OIG Found

Most of the selected diagnosis codes that United submitted to CMS for use in CMS's risk adjustment program did not comply with Federal requirements.

* For 183 of the 250 sampled enrollee-years, medical records did not support the diagnosis codes and resulted in $722,280 in overpayments.

* On the basis of our sample results, we estimated that United received at least $46.9 million in overpayments for 2020 and 2021.

As demonstrated by the errors found in our sample, United's policies and procedures to prevent, detect, and correct noncompliance with CMS's program requirements could be improved.

What OIG Recommends

We made four recommendations, including that United refund to the Federal Government the $46.9 million in estimated overpayments. The full recommendations are in the report.

United disagreed with some of our findings and requested that we withdraw all our recommendations.

* * *

The report is posted at: https://oig.hhs.gov/reports/all/2026/medicare-advantage-compliance-audit-of-specific-diagnosis-codes-that-unitedhealthcare-of-wisconsin-inc-contract-h5253-submitted-to-cms/

Commerce IG: 'Management Alert - Operational Issues Observed During the 2026 Census Test'

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The Commerce Inspector General issued the following report (No. OIG-26-028-I) entitled "Management Alert: Operational Issues Observed During the 2026 Census Test."

Here are excerpts:

* * *

Introduction

The mission of the 2030 Census Program is to determine where everyone in the nation lives, count the people at those locations, and share the results with the President, the states, and the public. On May 1, 2026, the U.S. Census Bureau began its 2026 Census Test. As part of the test, the bureau planned to conduct in-field enumeration (IFE) operations. On June ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (TNSLrpt) -- The Commerce Inspector General issued the following report (No. OIG-26-028-I) entitled "Management Alert: Operational Issues Observed During the 2026 Census Test." Here are excerpts: * * * Introduction The mission of the 2030 Census Program is to determine where everyone in the nation lives, count the people at those locations, and share the results with the President, the states, and the public. On May 1, 2026, the U.S. Census Bureau began its 2026 Census Test. As part of the test, the bureau planned to conduct in-field enumeration (IFE) operations. On June1, 2026, the bureau began its 2026 Census Test IFE activities in Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina. This operation concluded on August 31, 2026.

The bureau's test was not a complete enumeration of the population, but its results will provide evidence for assessing enhancements and innovations to field infrastructure, staffing, and training. In addition, the bureau will evaluate the operational feasibility and cost of using U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail carriers to enumerate while working mail delivery routes in Spartanburg, South Carolina (Flight A), and as temporary, part-time bureau employees while not carrying out postal duties in Huntsville, Alabama (Flight B).

The bureau also hired enumerators, census field supervisors (CFSs), and census field managers (CFMs) in both locations.

In this test, both USPS and bureau enumerators visited housing units (HUs) to obtain demographic information from households that did not complete the test questionnaire online. The enumerators used bureau-provided mobile phones to record household

information in an application called MOJO Casey that is connected to the bureau's operational control system. This application allows enumerators to manage aspects of their work, such as identifying addresses to visit, accessing maps to locate addresses, recording responses to the questionnaire during in-person interviews, and documenting work availability, actual time worked, and mileage expenses.

On May 7, 2026, we initiated an evaluation of the effectiveness of the 2026 Census Test in validating operational, technological, and methodological innovations designed to enhance cost efficiency, data quality, and response rates for the 2030 census. During site observations in June 2026, USPS denied us access to conduct direct observations of Flight A USPS mail carriers. On August 4, 2026, USPS granted us access, along with the U.S.

Government Accountability Office, to conduct joint observations of Flight A USPS mail carriers on August 11-12, 2026. This management alert only describes the operational issues we identified during our June site visit that impact the 2026 Census Test. Appendix 1 details the scope and methodology we used to perform these on-site observations.

* * *

The report is posted at: https://www.oig.doc.gov/wp-content/OIGPublications/OIG-26-028-I-SECURED.pdf

Existing Customer Login

Federal Executive Branch

Featured Stories