PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2019-01-16 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Did the IRS Admit It 'Encourages Illegals' to Steal Social Security Numbers for Taxes? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • In April 2016, a contributor to Forbes financial magazine's website reported that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was encouraging illegals, a pejorative term for undocumented immigrants, to steal Social Security numbers. Under the headline, IRS Admits It Encourages Illegals To Steal Social Security Numbers For Taxes, attorney Robert Wood wrote: This time, [then-IRS Commissioner John Koskinen] was talking about illegal immigrants, and about the IRS turning a blind eye. Or maybe worse. The IRS actually wants illegal immigrants to illegally use Social Security numbers, he suggested. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen made the surprising statement in response to a question from Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., at a Senate Finance Committee meeting. The article began re-circulating on social media in mid-January 2019. It's unclear why, but it may be because the federal government has been in a protracted, partial shutdown over an impasse between President Donald Trump and Congress over funding for U.S.-Mexico border-wall construction. That coupled with growing anxiety over how tax season will play out with IRS workers on furlough due to the shutdown perhaps launched the story back into the Internet's bloodstream. But the headline is exaggerated and misleading. We tracked down the Senate Finance Committee hearing in question, which took place on 12 April 2016, entitled Cybersecurity and Protecting Taxpayer Information. The question from Dan Coats, the current director of national intelligence, who at the time was a Republican senator from Indiana, was addressed to J. Russell George, treasury inspector general for tax administration (TIGTA) and then to Koskinen. According to a transcript of the hearing, Koskinen never admitted that the IRS encourages undocumented people to steal Social Security numbers. In the relevant exchange below, Koskinen said many undocumented people were using 9-digit Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) on their tax forms but then using someone else's Social Security number to get a job. In many of those cases, he said, the worker was using a Social Security number that belonged to a friend or relative — and this person was aware that their Social Security number was being used for that purpose. In other words, such cases are not clear-cut identity theft cases, and the crime/victim relationship was less black and white. Here is a transcript of the relevant portion of the hearing: The bill in question, the Social Security Identity Defense Act of 2017, was introduced on 20 July 2017 and was referred to the Senate Finance Committee. The full hearing can be viewed here. Coats' questioning begins at the 1:17-minute mark. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url