Posted on 05/30/2013 7:43:31 AM PDT by Sopater
Another week, another controversy for the Internal Revenue Service. This time, the problem for the tax collectors involves misuse of agency travel cards.
A new report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, the IRS’s own auditor, points to a “lack of aggressive steps” to address misuse of the credit cards IRS employees use when traveling.
The report follows a scathing audit by TIGTA that found the IRS tax-exempt division targeted conservative groups and delayed their tax documents.
A TIGTA official tells Watchdog.org the release of the latest report is merely coincidental and routine and had nothing to do with the political accusations surrounding the tax agency.
The audit, released Wednesday, found that in fiscal year 2011 the IRS travel card program had approximately 52,000 individually billed government-issued travel card accounts and $121 million in related charges.
At the end of 2012, the IRS workforce totaled 97,717 employees, meaning there effectively is at least one travel card for every two IRS employees.
“The lack of aggressive steps to address travel card misuse and reevaluate the security clearance and suitability for employment of employees with indications of financial problems present a risk to taxpayers, especially when these IRS employees have access to sensitive taxpayer information,” the audit states.
While the IRS’ travel card program controls are “generally effective” and delinquency rates are below 1 percent, the audit found the disciplinary actions imposed by IRS management for confirmed card misuse are sometimes “overly lenient.”
Travel card controls intended to identify transactions occurring outside of official travel are generally effective, according to the report.
“However, current controls do not include any steps designed to detect inappropriate or personal use while employees are on official travel,” the TIGTA audit states.
Similar questions about IRS management arose in the scandal involving the targeting of political groups. In one case, TIGTA found management attempted to deal with the “inappropriate” processes for evaluating conservative groups. The targeting reportedly declined and then picked up again in the months following the changes.
“This audit was initiated to assess the IRS’s controls intended to identify potentially fraudulent or abusive use of individually billed travel cards. With the millions of dollars spent annually by cardholders on official travel, it is essential that the IRS has effective controls in place to prevent and detect misuse. In addition, it is also imperative that identified misuse is responded to with appropriate disciplinary action in order to maintain the integrity of the program,” the latest audit states.
While the “vast majority” of cardholders used their travel cards in an appropriate manner and paid their bills on time, the IRS identified more than 1,000 cardholders who misused their travel cards during fiscal years 2010 and 2011, according to the audit.
“The disciplinary actions taken by IRS management in response to the confirmed misuse were less severe than those suggested in the IRS penalty guidelines in approximately half of the 30 cases TIGTA reviewed,” the report notes.
And hundreds of cardholders with “evidence of significant financial problems, including non-sufficient funds checks or suspended and charged-off accounts, were not referred for reevaluation of national security clearances and background checks.” The majority of those cardholders remained employed by the IRS as of September 2012.
Anyone who has ever been audited or felt the threat of an audit by the IRS may find this point in TIGTA’s IRS audit particularly interesting:
“Because the IRS’s mission includes requiring taxpayers to pay taxes owed on time and voluntarily, the IRS should take further steps to address employees who do not voluntarily pay their travel card bills on time,” the report states.
TIGTA recommends the IRS improve controls in several areas, including designing controls to detect personal use of the travel card while employees are on official travel. TIGTA also recommends the IRS develops a process for referring cardholders with evidence of financial problems to personnel security officials for reevaluation of the employees’ security clearances and suitability for their positions.
The IRS agreed with the recommendations and says it plans to implement several corrective actions, according to the audit.
It’s just money.......(yours’ and mine)
How many at the IRS failed to pay their federal taxes
yet went after Patriots and other Americans.
These credit cards are the legacy of the quid pro quo
for the attacks on conservatives because
EVERYONE at the IRS knew what was going on at the IRS.
Tip of the iceberg. There’s more wickedness in DC than even the most hard hearted can imagine. To use their word, it’s unsustainable, and uncontainable.
Response: Yep. However, one problem being names and pictures of the actual individuals involved are rarely or never reported. Simply reported is "THE IRS" a generality composed of many individuals. Crimes are by people.
The entire Federal government is out-of-control!!! The IRS, The FBI, The HHS, Obama, Holder, Pelosi Reed, Homeland Security, the veterans administration, etc., etc., etc. Hitler lives and breathes in Obama and those Democrat lock-steppers around him. America, your freedom and liberty are dying before your very eyes, and....you sit around, jaw yapping, instead of throwing these anti-American facist/communists/nazi tyrant into the sewer where they rightfully belong, starting with Obama and his “hate America” wife , Michelle!!!
Just a couple low level employees in Cleveland...
Imagine that - people who are attracted to unaccountable positions of power over others are corrupt...
knock me over with a feather.
They hired a lot of people who view credit cards as income. They will have to pretend it didn’t happen or risk the wrath of The People. You cannot ask for the money back because they already spent it.
BTDT
They hired a lot of people who, because of their culture and ideology, thought that their government jobs were the vehicle to live large on other people’s money.
Where I work, the message was sent quickly and forcefully: if you don't pay your govt travel card bill on time, your contract is terminated.
A GS-14 I once knew was let go when his wife forgot to pay the bill (she was in charge of paying the bills). His supervisor asked for a lesser punishment, a one-month suspension, but that was denied.
There is no excuse. Everytime I submitted a travel voucher (a dozen over 3 years), the reimbursement hit my bank account in less than 4 days.
Maybe the IRS wil prosecute the IRS agents for failing to pay taxes on the value of the perks that they illegally purchased with the credit cards.
Being spent by another PE union as though it's their “right” to do so.
RHIP, rank has it's privilege.
True but the credit card thing is epidemic. That’s like free money for bling.
We had an employee that needed a card for travel. His credit score was low because he had a repo so the company had to provide it. He went on a spree with it. He even bought a pair of $350 shoes on the card. He turned in the expense report AND then the bill (paid twice). Worst of all, he was unfireable. When he left the company for a great new job at another company, we discovered he never paid the bill and the company had to pay again.
He lasted 4 days at the next job and we suspected the company was behind the move.
3 guesses as to why he was unfireable and the first 2 don't count...
I guess it does-—I never had that kind of rank—LOL!
The Yankee boss specifically sought a certain demographic. This guy was the biggest talker. He lied about his abilities/education and the boss didn’t check references or previous employers. We passed on several good candidates of the same demographic to get this guy. we hired him as a programmer and his previous experience was working a register at a KFC. The boss was hoping he would get involved the the company president’s initiative in the poorest school. Instead, he got involved with a woman with a Benz. His wife and kids were still many states away.
It was fun to watch.
Not defending IRS employees here, but for only 1 in 50 to "have problems", that sounds pretty good.
Nope, my issue is: "Why do 50,000 IRS employees need a 'company card'? Surely that many should not be travelling, have purchase power, and so forth.
THERE'S the issue, IMHO....
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