Veterans' Pensions: Verifying Income With Tax Data Can Identify Significant Payment Problems
HRD-88-24
Published: Mar 16, 1988. Publicly Released: Mar 16, 1988.
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Highlights
In response to a congressional request, GAO assessed the Veterans Administration's (VA) Pension Program to determine: (1) how accurately it records beneficiary income; (2) the extent of overpayments in the program nationwide; and (3) whether program access to tax data was warranted.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Given the potential savings and the absence of data on potential adverse consequences to the tax system and taxpayer privacy, Congress should amend section 6103(1)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code to allow VA to access tax information so it can verify the income information that VA pension program beneficiaries report, investigate and resolve income differences, and prevent similar recurrences. In amending the law, Congress may wish to word it as follows: "Section 6103(1)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code is amended by: striking out the period at the end of subparagraph (A) and adding "or Title 38, United States Code" the reto; striking out the "and" at the end of subparagraph (d)(vi); striking out the period at the end of subparagraph (D)(vii) and adding ";and" at the end thereof; and adding the following new subparagraph (D)(viii): "(viii) benefits provided under the veterans pension program." | Section 8051 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 gave VA the authority to use Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) data to verify the income of certain compensation and pension beneficiaries and health care recipients. This authority expires September 30, 1992. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Veterans Administration | To attain better reporting of beneficiary income and asset information, the Administrator of Veterans Affairs should revise VA income questionnaires and the accompanying instruction sheet to eliminate current design weaknesses, including those GAO identified. |
VA has revised its Eligibility Verification Report (EVR) instruction sheet, but has concluded that budgetary and logistical constraints preclude any changes to the EVR form itself.
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| Veterans Administration | To attain better reporting of beneficiary income and asset information, the Administrator of Veterans Affairs should pretest the revised documents with a sample of beneficiaries before program-wide implementation to ensure that the beneficiaries clearly understand each question and instruction. |
VA has concluded that budgetary and logistical constraints preclude changes to EVR at this time and that the current EVR has been sufficiently tested through use by the beneficiaries.
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Topics
Confidential communicationsIncome statisticsNoncomplianceOverpaymentsPersonal income taxesPrivacy lawTax information confidentialityTax lawVeterans pensionsVeterans