IRS Committee Issues Report on Identity Theft and Refund Fraud

• The Security Summit continues to make progress in the fight against IDTTRF. Sustaining the Security Summit’s ability to detect and prevent IDTTRF will require continued engagement with existing and new partners from both government (federal, state and local) and industry;
  Congressional funding and support for the Security Summit and ISAC remain a key enabler to the ongoing success of these initiatives;
• The IDTTRF threat will be a challenge for some time to come. In fact, nation-states and cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated and will continue to make it difficult to detect and stop their criminal activities, which will directly impact legitimate taxpayers trying to meet their tax filing obligations;
• The implementation of new tax laws, such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, requires IRS resources both to implement the substantive elements of any new law and also to analyze and prepare for potential new IDTTRF opportunities created by the new law;
• The commitment and professionalism of the IRS leadership and staff during the government shutdown was exemplary. Notwithstanding the disruption, the IRS prepared and executed contingency plans that minimized the impact of the shutdown on its operations including its efforts to stop IDTTRF.

The committee recommended the following to help fight ID theft and tax return fraud:

1. Strengthen the Security Summit and ISA by:

• Funding the ISAC
• Enacting and IDTTRF exception to IRC Section 6103
• Increasing the engagement of ISAC members
• Integrating the payroll community more fully into the Security Summit
• Piloting a Financial Services Company (FSC) Collaboration Space in the ISAC

2. Improve the security in key areas of our tax system by:

• Assessing the state of information security in the tax professional community
• Granting the IRS the authority to establish and enforce security standards

3. Protect & enable taxpayers by:

• Developing and expanding channels for identity proofing
• Collaborating with Security Summit members to identify and pilot emerging approaches for identity verification
• Engaging with the Security Summit to improve the IRS Taxpayer Protection Program’s taxpayer experience

The full 2019 Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee Report is available on IRS.gov.

The ETAAC is a public forum whose members work closely with the Security Summit, a joint effort of the IRS, state tax administrators and the nation’s tax industry established in 2015 to fight tax-related identity theft and cybercrime. ETAAC members represent various segments of the tax community, including individual and business taxpayers, tax professionals and preparers, tax software developers, payroll service providers, the financial industry and state and local governments.

At the annual meeting, IRS Deputy Commissioner Kirsten Wielobob and IRS leaders thanked seven members of the committee ending their terms this year:

• John Ams – Ams served on the ETAAC Outreach Subgroup. He has also served on the Security Summit Tax Professional Working Group. Ams has more than 40 years of experience in the federal tax arena and is the former executive vice president of the National Association of Accountants.
• Shannon Bond – Bond served on the ETAAC Filing Subgroup. She serves as a co-lead on the Security Summit Tax Professional Working Group. Bond is senior director of government relations with tax software provider Wolters Kluwer.
• John Breyault – Breyault served on the Outreach Subgroup of the ETAAC. He has worked for the National Consumers League since 2008, where he advocates for stronger consumer protections before Congress and federal agencies.
• Angela Camp – Camp served on the ETAAC’s Outreach Subgroup, and has worked on the Security Summit’s Authentication, Information Sharing, Tax Pros and Communications Working Groups. During her career, Camp has worked for Intuit and the IRS.
• John Craig – Craig served on the ETAAC Outreach Subgroup. He is a nonprofit consultant specializing in strategy and technical support for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs.
• Courtney Kay-Decker – Kay-Decker served on the ETAAC’s Sharing Subgroup and was the state co-chair on the senior executive board of the IDTTRF Information Sharing and Analysis Center. She previously served as director of the Iowa Department of Revenue.
• Doreen Warren – Warren served on the ETAAC’s Outreach Working Group and most recently served as committee chair. She has over 28 years of experience in state tax administration with the Idaho State Tax Commission and has been active with the Federation of Tax Administrators, which represents state revenue agencies.