{"id":1998209,"date":"2023-08-11T17:51:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T21:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-report-irs-faces-accountability-crisis-as-sensitive-tax-records-vanish\/"},"modified":"2023-08-11T17:56:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T21:56:43","slug":"watchdog-report-irs-faces-accountability-crisis-as-sensitive-tax-records-vanish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-report-irs-faces-accountability-crisis-as-sensitive-tax-records-vanish\/","title":{"rendered":"IRS in Accountability Crisis as Tax Records Disappear"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatchdog-report-irs-faces-accountability-crisis-as-sensitive-tax-records-vanish%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1998209&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"entry-content\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Internal Revenue Service headquarters building appeared \u200dto be mostly empty \u2064April 27, 2020 in the Federal Triangle section of Washington,\u200b DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>OAN\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/tag\/geraldyn-berry\">Geraldyn Berry<\/a><\/h2>\n<h3>2:50 \u200cPM \u2013 Friday, August 11, 2023<\/h3>\n<p>A recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tigta.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/2023-08\/2023ier008fr.pdf\">watchdog report<\/a> claims that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is \u200cunable to locate\u2063 thousands of records that were kept at a facility in Utah, \u2062as \u200dwell as thousands\u200d of microfilm cartridges that\u2063 contain\u200c millions of sensitive individual and business tax account records \u200dthat were supposed \u200bto be transferred from a closed agency facility in California.<\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1\" style=\"min-width: 320px; min-height: 50px;  text-align: center;\">  \t<script>  \t\tgoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1'); });  \t<\/script>  <\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-slot__ad-label\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>The Treasury\u200c Inspector General\u200c for Tax Administration (TIGTA) stated in a report \u200breleased\u2063 Thursday that it found significant shortcomings in safeguarding\u2064 and accounting for millions\u2062 of tax records that contained sensitive taxpayer\u200b information as part of a review\u200b of the \u2064IRS\u2019 required storage of old\u2062 tax records in \u200dmicrofilm backup cartridges.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cOur review identified that the\u200b IRS is not adhering to its\u2062 own internal guidelines when sending\u00a0large volumes of sensitive taxpayer\u200b information to and from its Tax Processing Centers,\u201d the watchdog report said, adding, \u2063\u201cAs a\u2062 result,\u2064 the IRS is \u200dunable to identify,\u200d notify, and\/or offer \u200cprotection\u200d to taxpayers when sensitive tax information\u2063 is lost in the mail and at risk for potential \u2064identity theft.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>At \u200cthe IRS site in Ogden, Utah, the \u200cwatchdog reported finding\u2062 seven \u200dempty boxes\u200c that should \u200bhave held up to 168 microfilm cartridges, each of which can store up to\u2063 2,000 photographic pictures. \u200bThe IRS staff at the facility\u2062 was reportedly unable to identify where the cartridges were.<\/p>\n<p>The audit, which was made public on Tuesday, also showed that the Ogden Center\u2019s\u2064 microfilm cartridges are not \u201cadequately\u2064 safeguarded to limit access\u201d to the\u200b sensitive information they \u2062contain and that \u2064all three <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-report-irs-faces-accountability-crisis-as-sensitive-tax-records-vanish\/\" title=\"IRS in Accountability Crisis as Tax Records Disappear\">tax processing facilities stored microfilm\u2063 cartridges<\/a> over their advised retention dates.<\/p>\n<p>According to \u200creports, the backup cartridges are intended to be disposed of after 75 years\u2064 for corporate tax data and 30 \u200dyears for individual tax records.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the\u2063 IRS is \u200dunable to locate any cartridges carrying \u200dtax records from\u200b fiscal year 2010 that\u2064 were scheduled to be transferred from \u200cits Fresno, \u200cCalifornia, processing facility to its Kansas City processing site\u200b before it closed in \u20642021.<\/p>\n<p>According to\u2062 the audit, the Kansas City facility\u2063 also failed to account for\u2064 more than 4,000 cartridges containing corporate \u200btax account data from\u2064 fiscal 2018, and 4,500\u200c cartridges containing individual tax account\u2064 data from fiscal 2019.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThe personal taxpayer and tax information included \u200con these backup\u200c cartridges \u2062is key information that \u200ccan be used to commit tax refund fraud and\u2062 identity theft,\u201d the \u200dreport said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Republicans have previously criticized the IRS for \u2063treating taxpayer information\u200b improperly, \u2063such as when it destroyed 30 million paper tax returns in March 2021\u200d during the height \u2062of the epidemic, sparking a\u200d public uproar from the tax\u2063 community. <\/p>\n<p>They have \u2062also pressed \u200cthe \u2064organization to explain how nonprofit news outlet ProPublica obtained a \u200ccache of thousands \u2062of \u200dtax\u200b returns from the country\u2019s wealthiest individuals, which it utilized for an expos\u00e9 in June 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The TIGTA \u200creport also highlighted \u200cthe IRS\u2019s failure to conduct the required annual inventories of the microfilm cartridges, \u200curging the agency \u200bto enhance access \u200brestrictions to the tax records.\u2062 The \u2064open shelving storage of cartridges at the \u2063Ogden facility is cause for concern, posing further security risks.<\/p>\n<p>In response\u2063 to the TIGTA findings, IRS \u2064Wage and Investment Commissioner Kenneth C.\u200d Corbin wrote that the\u2062 IRS had been compelled to reallocate staff members in charge of the cartridge inventories \u200dto higher \u2064priorities due to \u2062the \u2064agency\u2019s\u2064 ongoing underfunding.<\/p>\n<p>According to Corbin, the government agency\u200c is continuing to process shipments of tax records \u2063to \u2063submission processing sites around the\u2062 country. <\/p>\n<p>Officials are\u200c \u201cconfident that as\u2064 the backlog of non-tax documents is processed,\u2064 the remaining \u200bcartridges will be incorporated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stay\u2063 informed!\u200b Receive breaking news blasts directly\u2062 to your inbox for \u2063free. Subscribe here. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/alerts\">https:\/\/www.oann.com\/alerts<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>Alameda County\u2062 District Attorney Pamela\u2063 Price faces mounting criticism, as \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-strategy-for-combating-surge-in-crime-focuses-largely-on-combating-gun-violence\/\" title=\"Biden\u2019s Strategy For Combating Surge In Crime Focuses Largely On Combating \u2018Gun Violence\u2019\">violent crime increases<\/a> in the Northern California county.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>U.S. District Court Judge\u200c Tanya Chutkan\u2064 is set to settle a dispute regarding a protective order on discovery \u2063information in the Trump J6 case. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>with Chris Markowski<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>with Jess Weber<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A \u200dU.S. cyber safety body will review issues relating to \u2062cloud-based identity and\u2064 authentication infrastructure that \u200bwill include an assessment\u2026\u200c <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>By\u2063 Daniel Trotta EL CAJON, California \u2064(Reuters) \u2013 California\u2064 firefighters are using artificial intelligence to help\u200d spot wildfires, \u200bfeeding \u2064video from more\u2026 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) \u2013 China\u2019s Huawei Technologies saw modest revenue\u2063 growth in the\u200c first half\u2062 of \u200bthe year, with its core information\u2026\u200c <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>By Greg \u2062Bensinger \u200bSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -California just\u200c supercharged the self-driving car industry. Advertisement\u200c Following a contentious \u200bstate agency vote, Alphabet\u200c Inc\u2019s\u2026 \u2062 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The IRS headquarters in Washington, DC seemed vacant on April 27, 2020. According to OAN&#8217;s Geraldyn Berry, a watchdog report reveals that the IRS cannot find numerous records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1755,"featured_media":1998210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[542],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1998209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oann"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1755"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1998209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1998210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1998209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1998209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1998209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}