SCANDAL: Secret IRS Policies Conceal ID Theft from Victims, Allow Illegal Aliens to "Borrow" Your Identity

Yet another reason to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen: Bob Segall of WTHR television in Indianapolis reports:

Risking their jobs to come forward, whistleblowers [showed] how the IRS is a knowing accomplice to millions of cases of identity theft while keeping victims in the dark.

...Within a massive federal agency that claims to be taking identity theft seriously, the reality – in many cases – is very different... "We are not supposed to do anything." said a whistleblower. "We are not allowed to say anything."

Findings of the 13 Investigates report include:

• The IRS accepts millions of tax returns – and issues tax refunds – even when taxpayer documents show clear warning signs of identity theft

• Confidential IRS policies instruct IRS employees not to tell taxpayers when someone else uses their social security number to earn income

• The IRS allows illegal immigrants to "borrow" social security numbers that do not legally belong to them

• The IRS is discontinuing a program to notify taxpayers when their social security number is used by someone else to gain employment

...undocumented workers – who are also required to submit a tax return despite their illegal immigration status – [use] an individual taxpayer identification number, better known as an ITIN...

...So at tax time, millions of undocumented workers send the IRS their ITIN tax return and, along with it, many send a W-2 that shows the income they earned using somebody else's social security number...

...The ID numbers submitted to the IRS – both an ITIN and a Social Security number -- clearly don't match. In fact, the IRS has an official name for that: an ITIN/SSN mismatch. It's a huge warning sign for identity theft.

But amazingly, the IRS accepts millions of ITIN/SSN mismatch tax returns anyway.

The agency actually encourages undocumented immigrants to file with a mismatched Social Security number that does not legally belong to them. The IRS website instructs tax preparers that undocumented workers can and should include on their tax returns any income they’ve earned using a Social Security number -- even though the IRS admits non-resident aliens are not legally eligible to receive a Social Security number in the first place!

So what does the IRS do with that information? What action does the agency take when it learns someone else used your Social Security number to get work and earn a paycheck?

"We're not allowed to say anything. Not a word," explained an IRS whistleblower.

"You were told to ignore it?" I asked, making sure I heard correctly.

"Yes. Identity theft is a crime. It affects real people in a lot of ways. But we are not supposed to do anything. Just let it go," she said. "I talk to these people every day who don't understand exactly what happened to them, and it's heartbreaking..."

Read the whole thing, and weep for the future of this Republic if another Democrat or establishment GOP Amnesty supporter are elected president in 2016.


Hat tip: NCY.