Earned Income Credit:
Targeting to the Working Poor
T-GGD-95-136: Published: Apr 4, 1995. Publicly Released: Apr 4, 1995.
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GAO discussed the Earned Income Credit (EIC), a major federal effort to assist the working poor. GAO noted that: (1) noncompliance, in the form of negligence, mistakes, confusion, and fraud, has been and continues to be a problem for EIC; (2) the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that about 34 percent of total EIC awarded in 1988 was erroneous; (3) IRS has expanded its efforts to ensure EIC compliance by verifying social security numbers, delaying refunds to give IRS staff time to identify problems, and verifying claimants' eligibility before processing refunds; (4) although EIC is intended to assist the working poor, IRS does not consider all of the resources recipients may have to support themselves and their families; (5) EIC eligibility determination approaches that could generate significant revenue savings include testing for claimants' wealth and expanding taxpayers' adjusted gross income; and (6) although currently illegal immigrants may receive EIC if they meet eligibility criteria, legislation is under consideration to deny EIC to illegal immigrants who are barred from lawful employment in the United States.
Jan 14, 2021
Tax Administration:
Better Coordination Could Improve IRS's Use of Third-Party Information Reporting to Help Reduce the Tax GapGAO-21-102: Published: Dec 15, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 14, 2021.
Nov 18, 2020
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IRS Reorganization:
Planning Addressed Key Reform Practices, but Goals and Measures for the Plan Have Not Been FinalizedGAO-21-18: Published: Oct 19, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 18, 2020.
Nov 9, 2020
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Opportunity Zones:
Improved Oversight Needed to Evaluate Tax Expenditure PerformanceGAO-21-30: Published: Oct 8, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 9, 2020.
Oct 19, 2020
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Tax Administration:
Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight of Hospitals' Tax-Exempt StatusGAO-20-679: Published: Sep 17, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 19, 2020.
Sep 23, 2020
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Taxpayer Service:
IRS Could Improve the Taxpayer Experience by Using Better Service Performance MeasuresGAO-20-656: Published: Sep 23, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 23, 2020.
Aug 31, 2020
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Abusive Tax Schemes:
Offshore Insurance Products and Associated Compliance RisksGAO-20-589: Published: Jul 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 31, 2020.
Jun 29, 2020
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Taxpayer Compliance:
More Income Reporting Needed for Taxpayers Working through Online PlatformsGAO-20-366: Published: May 28, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 29, 2020.
Jun 16, 2020
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Tax Exempt Organizations:
IRS Increasingly Uses Data in Examination Selection, but Could Further Improve Selection ProcessesGAO-20-454: Published: Jun 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 16, 2020.
May 1, 2020
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Management Report:
Improvements Are Needed to Enhance the Internal Revenue Service's Internal Control over Financial ReportingGAO-20-480R: Published: May 1, 2020. Publicly Released: May 1, 2020.
Apr 30, 2020
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Priority Open Recommendations:
Internal Revenue ServiceGAO-20-548PR: Published: Apr 23, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 30, 2020.
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