Report Type
Report Category
Submitting Agency
- (-) Department of Justice OIG (6)
- (-) Department of the Interior OIG (6)
- (-) General Services Administration OIG (1)
- (-) Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (10)
- Department of Agriculture OIG (2)
- Department of Commerce OIG (1)
- Department of Defense OIG (8)
- Department of Education OIG (10)
- Department of Health & Human Services OIG (27)
- Department of Homeland Security OIG (17)
- Department of Housing and Urban Development OIG (1)
- Department of Labor OIG (27)
- Department of the Treasury OIG (29)
- Department of Transportation OIG (5)
- Department of Veterans Affairs OIG (17)
- Election Assistance Commission OIG (5)
- Environmental Protection Agency OIG (5)
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation OIG (1)
- National Science Foundation OIG (1)
- National Security Agency OIG (1)
- Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (1)
- Railroad Retirement Board OIG (5)
- Small Business Administration OIG (29)
- Social Security Administration OIG (3)
- Tennessee Valley Authority OIG (1)
- U.S. Agency for International Development OIG (4)
- U.S. Postal Service OIG (9)
State/Local Agency
State (State and Local Reports)
Fraud Type
Agency Reviewed
Related Organizations
Management Challenges
Any Recommendations
Any Open Recommendations
Reports
Audit of GSA’s Response to COVID-19: PBS Faces Challenges to Ensure Water Quality in GSA-Controlled Facilities
We recommend that the PBS Commissioner provide appropriate oversight to ensure water is safe to occupants in its buildings by defining roles and responsibilities for maintaining water quality in GSA-controlled facilities.
We recommend that the PBS Commissioner provide appropriate oversight to ensure water is safe to occupants in its buildings by ensuring that: water quality is maintained through consistent policies and practices nationwide; deviations to PBS’s Drinking Water Quality Management policy and the PBS water safety guidance are approved by PBS’s Central Office; and any water safety policies or guidance developed by regional offices do not contradict policies and guidance issued at the national level.
We recommend that the PBS Commissioner provide appropriate oversight to ensure water is safe to occupants in its buildings by ensuring that PBS’s water safety activities are incorporated into O&M contracts, recorded in PBS’s National Computerized Maintenance Management System, and overseen by PBS personnel.
We recommend that the PBS Commissioner provide appropriate oversight to ensure water is safe to occupants in its buildings by incorporating PBS’s water safety oversight responsibilities into quality assurance surveillance plans for O&M contracts to ensure contractor compliance with water safety activities.
We recommend that the PBS Commissioner provide appropriate oversight to ensure water is safe to occupants in its buildings by ensuring that PBS personnel and O&M contractors have access to tenant spaces so flushing can be performed.
We recommend that the PBS Commissioner provide appropriate oversight to ensure water is safe to occupants in its buildings by amending O&M and other contracts to ensure that energy efficiency and water conservation requirements do not conflict with PBS’s Drinking Water Quality Management policy and the PBS water safety guidance.
We recommend that the PBS Commissioner provide appropriate oversight to ensure water is safe to occupants in its buildings by ensuring that water is tested in GSA’s child care centers as required by PBS’s Drinking Water Quality Management policy.
We recommend that the PBS Commissioner provide appropriate oversight to ensure water is safe to occupants in its buildings by ensuring water quality test results—especially those above EPA action levels—are communicated timely to building tenants, GSA child care center operators, and parents and guardians of affected children.
We recommend that the PBS Commissioner provide appropriate oversight to ensure water is safe to occupants in its buildings by amending and implementing PBS’s Drinking Water Quality Management policy to: include reduced occupancy or decreased water usage as additional criteria for lead, copper, Legionella bacteria, and other contaminant testing; ensure requirements in PBS’s Drinking Water Quality Management policy, its companion Desk Guide for Drinking Water Quality Management, and the PBS water safety guidance are incorporated into the amended policy, unless there are safety reasons why such requirements cannot or should not be incorporated; and formalize its requirement to complete additional testing at child care centers that close for extended periods of time.
The IRS Continues to Reduce Backlog Inventories in the Tax Processing Centers
On June 6, 2023, we notified the Director, Customer Account Services, Wage and Investment Division, of our concerns regarding the overpayments being erroneously held. We recommended that the IRS identify a process to review and release the overpayments that are being erroneously held. We also recommended that the IRS request programming changes, if needed, to ensure that all accounts with overpayments are identified and release the overpayments where warranted.
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should perform an analysis of Tax Year 2019 tax accounts with abated Failure to File penalties due to Notice 2022-36, to identify additional tax accounts for which overpayments are being held from issuance and take the actions needed to systemically release the overpayments where warranted.
American Rescue Plan Act: Review of the Reconciliation of the Child Tax Credit
Review all of the 6,833 taxpayers with excess Child Tax Credit identified during our review and take appropriate actions to ensure that the taxpayers receive the correct amount of the Child Tax Credit.
Identify additional taxpayers after May 5, 2022, who received excess Child Tax Credit as a result of tax examiner error and take appropriate actions to ensure that these taxpayers receive the correct amount of the Child Tax Credit.
Review the 105 taxpayers who potentially did not receive all of their eligible Child Tax Credit identified during our review and take appropriate actions to ensure that they receive the correct amount of the Child Tax Credit.
Evaluate the priority of programming to ensure that processes and procedures are developed to identify and correct tax examiner entries input during the error correction process that exceed statutory limits, including a process to systemically reprocess corrected returns through Error Resolution programming before being released for processing.
On February 17, 2022, we notified IRS management of our concerns with undeliverable payments that post after the processing of the tax return. In these instances, the IRS processed the tax return as if the payment was received by the taxpayer. As a result, the taxpayer would receive less Child Tax Credit than they are eligible to receive. We recommended that the IRS develop a process to identify undeliverable payments after
processing of the TY 2021 tax return.
Identify taxpayers with advance payments who have yet to file a TY 2021 tax return and send a reminder notice, similar to the Department of the Treasury, using the advance payments as part of the criteria.
Work with the Commissioner, Small Business/Self-Employed Division, to create a process to recover potentially erroneous advance payments from taxpayers who have not filed a TY 2021 tax return.
American Rescue Plan Act: Continued Review of Premium Tax Credit Provisions
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, and the Commissioner, Small Business/Self-Employed Division, should consider expanding the use of soft notices to address potentially erroneous PTC claims. These notices should provide individuals with information specific to the eligibility or reporting requirements related to the potential error the IRS identified and suggest the filing of an amended return, if an error has
occurred.
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should notify the 317,418 taxpayers we identified, who potentially received less PTC than they were entitled or repaid more APTC than required, that they may qualify for additional PTC or overpaid APTC and encourage them to file an amended Tax Year 2021 return, if applicable.
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should notify the 317,418 taxpayers we identified, who potentially received less PTC than they were entitled or repaid more APTC than required, that they may qualify for additional PTC or overpaid APTC and encourage them to file an amended Tax Year 2021 return, if applicable.
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should develop processes, such as the use of courtesy letters to notify individuals of their potential eligibility, to proactively assist taxpayers who, based on available tax return and Exchange data, potentially claimed less PTC than entitled or paid more APTC than required.
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should develop processes, such as the use of courtesy letters to notify individuals of their potential eligibility, to proactively assist taxpayers who, based on available tax return and Exchange data, potentially claimed less PTC than entitled or paid more APTC than required.
On October 26, 2022, we notified the Director, Submission Processing, of our concerns regarding taxpayers who are potentially eligible for additional PTC based on their unemployment status during Tax Year 2021. We recommended that the Director, Submission Processing, notify these taxpayers that they may qualify for additional PTC or be able to reduce the amount of excess APTC they must repay and encourage them to file an amended Tax Year 2021 return, if they qualify.
On October 25, 2022, we notified the Director, Submission Processing, of our concerns with the draft Tax Year 2022 Form 8962 instructions. We
recommended that the IRS revise the instructions to inform taxpayers that they have an option to set a domestic violence indicator on their tax return.
Recurring Identification Is Needed to Ensure That Employers Full Pay the Deferred Social Security Tax
The Commissioner, Small Business/Self-Employed Division, should ensure that the 3,231 tax accounts are updated to reflect the correct balance due.
The Commissioner, Small Business/Self-Employed Division, should continue to identify new tax accounts with a Social Security tax deferral at least through Calendar Year 2024 to ensure that all unpaid deferrals are identified for collection as appropriate.
Additional Actions Are Needed to Reduce Accounts Management Function Inventories to Below Pre‑Pandemic Levels
Ensure that all sites understand and begin immediately stamping the ICT received date after correspondence screening is completed, and that individual and business documents are screened with equal importance.
Coordinate with the Information Technology organization to explore adding Taxpayer Relations inventories into the CII, so that all Accounts Management inventory is located in the same inventory management system.
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should establish time frames for and a process to measure correspondence screening timeliness at each site.
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should rescind the requirement that only the TEs and the CSRs perform correspondence
screening and encourage all sites to use mail clerks, after providing them with adequate training.
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should ensure prompt completion of the ICT review to determine if additional scanners will be
purchased.
Discontinue correspondence screening via telework and ensure at all sites that screening must be conducted in the same IRS facility where documents are being scanned by the ICT.
Identify and address the cause of Accounts Management function employees incorrectly routing cases to other IRS functions and work with other IRS functions to update their Internal Revenue Manuals to make it clear that incorrectly routed documents should be returned to the
originating employee.
We recommended that management take steps to hire as many mail clerks as possible.
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should establish goals for each of the Accounts Management function’s inventory types and develop a plan for addressing those goals to ensure a timely return to pre-pandemic inventory levels.
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment, should prioritize funding and implementation of automated processing of Forms 1040-X to increase efficiencies and reduce taxpayer burden.
The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should implement temporary solutions for the processing of Forms 1040-X to reduce the backlogs, reduce taxpayer burden, and save IRS resources until an automated solution is implemented.
Coordinate with the Information Technology organization to prevent generating transcripts for manual refunds less than $100 and adjust the frequency that some transcripts are generated to help management get through the inventory more efficiently.
Temporarily relieve employees in the Accounts Management function from having to complete paperwork for barred statutes, so they can focus on eliminating the backlogged inventory and prevent future barred statutes.
Capstone Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic
Conduct a thorough assessment of single-celling policies and processes, including those applicable to inmates housed in quarantine and medical isolation units and to inmates vulnerable to suicide.
Assess how to improve staff and inmate compliance with healthcare protective equipment measures at its facilities and issue clear guidance to facilities about the importance of compliance.
Ensure that actions, including any policy revisions, the BOP takes to close the two open recommendations from our 2017 restrictive housing report that reference single-celling also apply to single-celling during quarantine and medical isolation.
Explore options for permanent changes to facility infrastructures that would allow for better implementation of social distancing and other infection control measures.
Immediately update guidance regarding (1) when staff should notify the families of inmates who become seriously ill or die, including a specific timeframe, and (2) uniform criteria for what constitutes a serious illness.
Ensure that inmate family information, or the inmate emergency contact form, is updated according to policy and readily available for BOP staff who need to notify next of kin in cases of inmate serious illness or death.
The Omaha Tribe Did Not Account for CARES Act Funds Appropriately
We recommend that the BIA resolve the unreasonable hazard pay costs of $29,574 by requiring the Omaha Tribe to perform an analysis of the costs incurred to applicable criteria and document its determination of reasonableness.
We recommend that the BIA resolve the questioned hazard pay costs of $27,841 for Payment 1 by requiring the Omaha Tribe to provide detailed reconciliation of incurred costs to supporting documentation.
We recommend that the BIA resolve the questioned costs of $182,388 for Payment 2 by requiring the Omaha Tribe to provide detailed complete supporting documentation for the hazard pay and indirect costs.
We recommend that the BIA review the Omaha Tribe’s revised policy regarding the custody of checks and document that proper controls have been implemented.
We recommend that the BIA resolve the questioned costs of $42,067 by requiring the Omaha Tribe to provide a detailed list of the questioned transactions and voided checks to the BIA for its files to ensure these transactions are not claimed for reimbursement.
We recommend that the BIA resolve the questioned costs of $10,792 by requiring the Omaha Tribe to reallocate these costs to the appropriate funding source.
We recommend that the BIA require the Omaha Tribe to revise its policy to ensure a complete property record for CARES Act-funded assets in accordance with 2 C.F.R. § 200.313(d)(1).
The Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education Have the Opportunity To Implement Additional Controls To Prevent or Detect Multi-dipping of Pandemic Response Funds
We recommend that the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education develop and implement policies, procedures, or guidance designed to prevent or detect <span class="tx-tooltip" tabindex="0">
multi-dipping
<span class="tx-tooltip-text">
When a recipient receives money from multiple federal sources and uses it for the same purpose, this could be an indication of multi-dipping.
</span>
</span>
.
We recommend that the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education communicate the policies and procedures developed and train bureau personnel and Tribes on preventing and detecting <span class="tx-tooltip" tabindex="0">
multi-dipping
<span class="tx-tooltip-text">
When a recipient receives money from multiple federal sources and uses it for the same purpose, this could be an indication of multi-dipping.
</span>
</span>
.
We recommend that the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education develop and implement policies, procedures, or guidance designed to prevent or detect <span class="tx-tooltip" tabindex="0">
multi-dipping
<span class="tx-tooltip-text">
When a recipient receives money from multiple federal sources and uses it for the same purpose, this could be an indication of multi-dipping.
</span>
</span>
.
We recommend that the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education develop and implement policies, procedures, or guidance designed to prevent or detect <span class="tx-tooltip" tabindex="0">
multi-dipping
<span class="tx-tooltip-text">
When a recipient receives money from multiple federal sources and uses it for the same purpose, this could be an indication of multi-dipping.
</span>
</span>
.
We recommend that the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education develop and implement policies, procedures, or guidance designed to prevent or detect <span class="tx-tooltip" tabindex="0">
multi-dipping
<span class="tx-tooltip-text">
When a recipient receives money from multiple federal sources and uses it for the same purpose, this could be an indication of multi-dipping.
</span>
</span>
.
We recommend that the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education communicate the policies and procedures developed and train bureau personnel and Tribes on preventing and detecting <span class="tx-tooltip" tabindex="0">
multi-dipping
<span class="tx-tooltip-text">
When a recipient receives money from multiple federal sources and uses it for the same purpose, this could be an indication of multi-dipping.
</span>
</span>
.
We recommend that the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education communicate the policies and procedures developed and train bureau personnel and Tribes on preventing and detecting <span class="tx-tooltip" tabindex="0">
multi-dipping
<span class="tx-tooltip-text">
When a recipient receives money from multiple federal sources and uses it for the same purpose, this could be an indication of multi-dipping.
</span>
</span>
.
We recommend that the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education communicate the policies and procedures developed and train bureau personnel and Tribes on preventing and detecting <span class="tx-tooltip" tabindex="0">
multi-dipping
<span class="tx-tooltip-text">
When a recipient receives money from multiple federal sources and uses it for the same purpose, this could be an indication of multi-dipping.
</span>
</span>
.
The Three Affiliated Tribes Did Not Account for CARES Act Funds Appropriately
We recommend that the BIA resolve the questioned costs of $237,270 by requiring the Three Affiliated Tribes to provide supporting documentation to ensure that the incurred costs are allowable, allocable, and reasonable.
We recommend that the BIA require the Three Affiliated Tribes to establish controls to ensure that it can determine the appropriate funding source for each CARES Act expense.
We recommend that the BIA resolve the questioned costs of $106,280 by creating and adjusting journal entries to reallocate the funds from the U.S. Department of the Interior to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
We recommend that the BIA resolve the questioned costs of $89,623 by creating adjusted journal entries to reallocate the funds from the BIA CARES Act to the appropriate funding source.