Diva
04-14-02, 03:58AM
FOX (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,50229,00.html) -- Tax filers who believed various scams and sought nonexistent slavery tax credits in 2000 and 2001 found themselves in the money and the IRS is now trying to clean up the mess made from its mistake.
The IRS received more than 77,000 tax returns last year claiming $2.7 billion in reparations refunds, up from 13,000 the year before. Last year, the IRS discovered that some erroneous refunds were being issued, but was only partly effective in stopping them.
The Treasury inspector general for tax administration, David C. Williams, said in Senate testimony this week that refunds of more than $80,000 were issued "in some instances" to married couples when each spouse claimed the reparations credit.
One IRS employee is under investigation for allegedly helping process returns that claimed the credit, The Washington Post, citing an unidentified official, reported.
At least 12 current and former IRS employees, all low-level workers in processing centers, applied to receive such a credit, the newspaper report said.
Typical scams use terms such as "black investment taxes," "reparations for African-Americans" or a "black inheritance tax refund."
This is the first indication of what these scams cost the government. Most of the mistaken payments were for about $43,000, a figure Essence magazine suggested in 1993 as the updated value of 40 acres and a mule, which some freed slaves were given under an order by a Union general during the Civil War.
The tax agency is now trying to recover the money it paid out, though officials would not disclose how much has been collected.
Starting Monday, the IRS will begin levying a $500 fine on taxpayers who do not withdraw the claim if they have been caught.
I am not a racist. Just thought I'd get that out of the way. Just because you are black does not mean that you deserve some sort of 'credit'. Just because I am Jewish does not mean i get payment for the Holocost, either. If a person has been wronged by the Government then I can see that there is a grief to be stated before the courts. But I do not believe that someone who died years ago is reason enough to get some cash off of. There has to be a point where we move on. Let the slinging begin.
The IRS received more than 77,000 tax returns last year claiming $2.7 billion in reparations refunds, up from 13,000 the year before. Last year, the IRS discovered that some erroneous refunds were being issued, but was only partly effective in stopping them.
The Treasury inspector general for tax administration, David C. Williams, said in Senate testimony this week that refunds of more than $80,000 were issued "in some instances" to married couples when each spouse claimed the reparations credit.
One IRS employee is under investigation for allegedly helping process returns that claimed the credit, The Washington Post, citing an unidentified official, reported.
At least 12 current and former IRS employees, all low-level workers in processing centers, applied to receive such a credit, the newspaper report said.
Typical scams use terms such as "black investment taxes," "reparations for African-Americans" or a "black inheritance tax refund."
This is the first indication of what these scams cost the government. Most of the mistaken payments were for about $43,000, a figure Essence magazine suggested in 1993 as the updated value of 40 acres and a mule, which some freed slaves were given under an order by a Union general during the Civil War.
The tax agency is now trying to recover the money it paid out, though officials would not disclose how much has been collected.
Starting Monday, the IRS will begin levying a $500 fine on taxpayers who do not withdraw the claim if they have been caught.
I am not a racist. Just thought I'd get that out of the way. Just because you are black does not mean that you deserve some sort of 'credit'. Just because I am Jewish does not mean i get payment for the Holocost, either. If a person has been wronged by the Government then I can see that there is a grief to be stated before the courts. But I do not believe that someone who died years ago is reason enough to get some cash off of. There has to be a point where we move on. Let the slinging begin.