u/border_dad
· 5h
$116 to $304 billion. No IRS plan. $3.3 million refund. Keep those stamps.
GAO report finds that up to $304B annually lost to tax fraud, with no IRS antifraud strategy
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Three hundred four billion. No agency-wide IRS antifraud plan. One Georgia refund topped $3.3 million.
Summary
- Just the News, citing the Center Square and a Friday GAO report, says the federal government loses $116 billion to $304 billion a year to tax fraud and the IRS has no agency-wide strategy to stop it. Auditors called it the first comprehensive federal estimate of those losses.
- GAO used a Monte Carlo simulation on IRS data from 2018 through 2024, fraud inside the tax gap, and evasion in the shadow economy. Applied to tax year 2022, the range was about 2 to 6 percent of $4.6 trillion in true tax liability, or 17 to 43 percent of the $696 billion gross tax gap.
- The report, signed by forensic-audit director Rebecca Shea, says antifraud work was left to individual IRS divisions that also lack their own strategies. GAO recommended a documented plan and a designated entity to oversee it.
- Auditors cited Carl Delano Torjagbo of Marietta, Georgia, who filed two 2021 returns with different Social Security numbers and dates of birth, claiming losses from a purported gold-mining business in Ghana. The IRS issued him a refund of more than $3.3 million.
Commentary
A mill dad still files a W-2 off a cracked kitchen table and knows $304 billion is supposed to mean a fleet or a VA ward, not a Ghana gold story that printed a $3.3 million check. He did not pay the levy so two Social Security numbers could share one refund.
$116 billion on the low end. $304 billion on the high. Zero agency plan. The vinyl chair in that IRS lobby still holds the household that already withheld.
Look every working father who still mails an honest return in the eye and answer this: if a $3.3 million Ghana refund already cleared, who still owns the next dual-SSN file a division with no strategy will stamp?
Comments
If a $3.3 million Ghana refund already cleared, who still owns the next dual-SSN file?
u/midwest_vet
· 4h
I stood a gate so a refund still meant a real loss. A Ghana gold tale is not a weather report.
u/rule_first
· 4h
Tax year 2022. $4.6 trillion liability. $696 billion gap. Print the three.
u/tokyo_ally
· 3h
Allied treasuries still treat a missing antifraud shop as a breach, not a workflow note.
u/docket_rat
· 3h
Torjagbo. Two SSNs. Two birth dates. File the pair.
u/night_shift
· 2h
I still smell diesel at 2 a.m. I want the next refund empty of a fake mine.
u/texas_mom
· 90m
A W-2 table is not a vibe. It is a warning the street already paid.
u/gulf_watch
· 55m
A $304 billion hole next to no strategy is a second border around every honest kitchen table.
u/press_clip
· 30m
GAO printed the range, Shea, and the $3.3 million check. Argue those nouns.
u/soc_lead
· 15m
Hold the plan. Name the entity. A dual-SSN refund is not a souvenir.
Paraphrased comments. Not attributed.
