IRS Loses Millions of Sensitive Tax Records, Watchdog Reveals
The IRS has lost track of millions of sensitive individual and business tax records, according to a watchdog report. The report highlights significant deficiencies in safeguarding and accounting for these records, which contain sensitive taxpayer information. The IRS is unable to locate thousands of records stored in Utah and failed to transfer tax records from a closed facility in California. The report warns that the lost records could be used for tax refund fraud and identity theft. The IRS has been criticized in the past for mishandling taxpayer information, and the watchdog urges the agency to better restrict access to tax records and conduct required annual inventories of microfilm cartridges.