IRS Steps Up Tax Crime Enforcement and Convictions (From Accounting Today)
The Internal Revenue Service has significantly increased its enforcement actions against tax criminals and its rate of convicting them, according to a new report from the IRS Criminal Investigation unit.
The CI unit increased by 12.5 percent the number of investigations it initiated in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2013, compared to the prior year, and increased prosecution recommendations by nearly 18 percent. CI initiated 5,314 cases and recommended 4,364 cases for prosecution. These increases occurred at a time when agent resources decreased more than 5 percent, largely due to budget cuts at the agency.
Meanwhile, convictions rose more than 25 percent compared to the prior year. The conviction rate for fiscal 2013 was 93 percent.
The report summarizes other IRS CI activity investigating tax crimes, money laundering, public corruption, terrorist financing and narcotics trafficking financial crimes during the fiscal year.
