United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-03-30 monographic deposited born digital 21 p. GA 1.13:GAO-01-328 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-328 P0b002ee18038a48c f:d01328 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-328 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-328 GAO-01-328 Income taxes Social security number Tax exempt status Taxpayers Internal controls Tax returns IRS Automated Collection System Other Written Product A00728 Approximately one million taxpayers per year, as well as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), incur costs to abate tax assessments created due to tax exemption errors. Avoiding the errors, or correcting them earlier, could reduce the burden on taxpayers of complying with tax laws. IRS has taken one step intended to help taxpayers avoid these errors--revising instructions for claiming exemptions. In another step, aimed at correcting some exemption errors that continue to be made, IRS decided to do checks of name and social security number errors for spousal exemption claims during returns processing. In addition, IRS is considering implementing earlier--during returns processing--checks for dependent exemption errors and taxpayer contacts if the checks do not correct exemption errors. Considering doing such checks and contacts earlier is worthwhile. While the cost savings to IRS are not known, a large number of taxpayers would benefit. However, IRS did not provide GAO with any details or documentation about how or when decisions would be made. Little is known about how to reduce nonexemption errors that lead to assessments being abated. Because over one million taxpayers were burdened by such assessments, research to reduce the errors is worth considering. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-328/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-328.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-328/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-328.pdf GAO-01-328 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-328 Other Written Product GAO-01-328; Tax Administration: IRS Can Help Taxpayers Reduce the Need for Tax Abatements; Income taxes Social security number Tax exempt status Taxpayers Internal controls Tax returns IRS Automated Collection System