IRS issued $46 million in erroneous tax refunds

Hopefully, you and or yours have a great accountant and tax attorney; The Internal Revenue Service issued more than $46 million in erroneous tax refunds due to a computer glitch and ineffective monitoring, issues that left uncorrected could cost taxpayers up to $230 million over the next five years.

Is it any wounder that our Government is on the edge of bankruptcy? Just amazing how these types of "whoopsies" keep on happening, and with the technology so readily available these days... just wow....

Link

a reply to: ReadLeader
Well, they didn't screw up and send me an erroneous refund yet.
WTH?

a reply to: butcherguy

Ha Ha, yup- feel ya.. All I get are personal audits from them

a reply to: ReadLeader

To be fair, the IRS also receives hundreds of millions of dollars (if not more) worth of falsified claims per year, so the fact that "only" $46 million was paid out (the vast majority of which will be recouped, eventually) isn't all that bad.

Of course, you'll note in the story that it says "potentially fraudulent tax refunds," so we don't even really know yet. The program error is responsible for $27 million worth of incorrect payments out, if every flagged return proves to be fraudulent.

Please don't get me wrong--I'm no big fan of the IRS, but I'm not a fan of half-truths, either. In the original Washington Free Beacon story, it notes that:

The audit recommended that the IRS improve its screening and verification processes.

Well, no crap, but our congress and president have been cutting the budget to the IRS for the past six years now, so the funds haven't been there to replace retiring or outgoing people in the numbers that it needs. This last omnibus bill increased the IRS' budget by $290M compared to last year, so maybe they'll be able to hire the manpower to keep this from happening, although I'm quite certain that it may be more the quality of the employees than the quantity that creates these problems. Here's to hoping they spend that money wisely (cue laugh track).

I like Congressman Diane Black's comment, which sums it up nicely:

We didn’t need another reminder that the IRS is mired in incompetence and mismanagement, but we got it anyway.

Classic.

But keep in mind, thought, that the projected $290M in losses is just that--a projection. A guess. And it doesn't remind us at all that the IRS is happy to repossess money that they mistakenly gave back, so like I said, most of this will get recouped at some point.

I don't believe these "glitches" are errors.

It's part of a systematic redistribution plan.

They use "Mafia" style methods.

Switching to a flat tax while ending write offs and loopholes would help eliminate a good amount of the errors while reducing the requirement for more IRS agents.

We didn’t need another reminder that the IRS is mired in incompetence and mismanagement, but we got it anyway
Couldn't that statement be made about pretty much the whole government?
Looks like all departments find ways to loose money and she wants to point out the one that gave money back,

Hey, let's keep cutting their funding, that'll show 'em. I mean look how well it worked to continuously cut VA funding!

When will people realize they are giving their lives to enrich others?

Trading their limited hours on the plant for paper with imagined value.

Pretty sick and twisted existance. There was a reason the founding fathers made income tax illegal.

Punk politicians need stopped.

Oh look, I've slaved so hard, now I can rent my land from the gov.

Just who th f $#@ works for who.

FLAT TAX OR NO TAX OR CIVIL F $#@^ WAR IS NEEDED.

How much can we bleed from the slaves?

Can we bleed more if they are under surveillance, or think they are?

Can we find a way to directly take out taxes before they get their pay?

Like a scummy bank, conspiring against it's customers.

We need a GD union style walkout nation wide, until this endless shtshow can be stopped. Cut off the faucet.

Demand immediate change, not talks, enact a stop to everything until they figure out their places.

Any further narrative changers such as elections are on hold until further notice. -end rant

I just don't think about taxes at all. IN February, I will sit down, do the family taxes, write a check if I need to cover more, and I won't think about taxes again for another year.

When I was not making much, I got a refund. now I make better money and I pay in instead of a refund. No biggie.