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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
04/19/2024 07:30 PM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20150&cosponId=16647
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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

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House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: January 14, 2015 10:39 AM
From: Representative William C. Kortz, II
To: All House members
Subject: Legislation urging the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the IRS (former HR 277)
 
In the near future, I intend to re-introduce a resolution (former HR 277) urging the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in an effort to address the ongoing problem of incarcerated individuals filing fraudulent tax returns and receiving a refund.

A report executed by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) at the end of 2010, entitled Expanded Access to Wage and Withholding Information Can Improve Identification of Fraudulent Tax Returns, addressed the issue of prisoners receiving fraudulent tax refunds. According to the report, an estimated 48,887 prisoners who filed tax returns had no wage information reported by employers. Despite this lack of information, these prisoners claimed refunds totaling more than $130 million, including Earned Income Tax Credit claims of $78.5 million. Given these alarming statistics, TIGTA noted that improvements must be made to more effectively identify potentially fraudulent tax returns, particularly those filed by prisoners. Specifically, the report recommended that legislation be enacted on the federal level to expand IRS access to the United States Department of Health and Human Services wage information, but legislation has stalled.

States such as New York, Minnesota and Florida have entered into MOU agreements with the IRS in an effort to minimize fraudulent tax claims filed by prisoners through information sharing.

Please join me in urging DOC to fight fraud in our penal institutions and protect taxpayer dollars by joining me in co-sponsoring this resolution.

Co-Sponsors of Former HR 277 : KRIEGER, TOEPEL, MILLARD, PASHINSKI, MARSHALL, READSHAW, D. COSTA, CLYMER, DeLUCA, CUTLER, SWANGER, QUINN, MURT, McCARTER, DENLINGER, GILLEN, FABRIZIO, FARRY, and COHEN.

Introduced as HR141