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<blockquote data-quote="roadrunner2012" data-source="post: 1006292" data-attributes="member: 40736">They have 5000 fewer workers than last year, and certainly have not started any new hiring a of yet.<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/story/2012-04-02/IRS-examinations/54180938/1" target="_blank">IRS audits may dip this year because of staffing shifts – USATODAY.com</a>Computer screening issues aren&#039;t the only IRS enforcement area that has drawn questions.The&nbsp; tax agency said it blocked more than $14 billion in refunds on&nbsp; fraudulent tax returns, much of it related to identity theft, during&nbsp; 2011 tax return processing.But J. Russell George, who heads the inspector&nbsp; general&#039;s office, told Emerson&#039;s panel last month that Congress should&nbsp; expand IRS access to wage and withholding data that the <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Department+of+Health" target="_blank">Department of Health</a> and Human Services gets from employers for Social Security records.That would make it easier for the IRS to spot fraudulent refund claims by checking taxpayer filings against the data, he said.The&nbsp; IRS has 5,000 fewer workers this tax-filing season than in 2011, and&nbsp; about 60% of the cuts came in enforcement jobs, Commissioner Douglas&nbsp; Shulman told a congressional hearing in March. The total IRS workforce&nbsp; fell to 91,380 last fall, a 3.1% drop from 94,346 in 2010. The&nbsp; reductions can leave the IRS scrambling to deal with honest taxpayers&nbsp; and scammers.Many IRS employees who currently&nbsp; work on identity-theft tax fraud cases are also telephone assistors&nbsp; trained to help taxpayers. But inspector general auditors cautioned that&nbsp; identity-theft cases are often complex and require skills the phone&nbsp; assistors lack.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="roadrunner2012, post: 1006292, member: 40736"] They have 5000 fewer workers than last year, and certainly have not started any new hiring a of yet. [url=http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/story/2012-04-02/IRS-examinations/54180938/1]IRS audits may dip this year because of staffing shifts – USATODAY.com[/url] Computer screening issues aren't the only IRS enforcement area that has drawn questions. The tax agency said it blocked more than $14 billion in refunds on fraudulent tax returns, much of it related to identity theft, during 2011 tax return processing. But J. Russell George, who heads the inspector general's office, told Emerson's panel last month that Congress should expand IRS access to wage and withholding data that the [URL="http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Department+of+Health"]Department of Health[/URL] and Human Services gets from employers for Social Security records. That would make it easier for the IRS to spot fraudulent refund claims by checking taxpayer filings against the data, he said. The IRS has 5,000 fewer workers this tax-filing season than in 2011, and about 60% of the cuts came in enforcement jobs, Commissioner Douglas Shulman told a congressional hearing in March. The total IRS workforce fell to 91,380 last fall, a 3.1% drop from 94,346 in 2010. The reductions can leave the IRS scrambling to deal with honest taxpayers and scammers. Many IRS employees who currently work on identity-theft tax fraud cases are also telephone assistors trained to help taxpayers. But inspector general auditors cautioned that identity-theft cases are often complex and require skills the phone assistors lack. [/QUOTE]

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