Reports

New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller

Follow-Up Review of COVID-19 CARES Act Marine Fisheries Assistance Grant Program

The Office of the State Comptroller issued a report in connection with its initial, limited review of the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) administration of the New Jersey COVID-19 CARES Act Marine Fisheries Assistance Grant Program (Fisheries Program). This letter memorializes the results from the Office of the State Comptroller and the independent COVID-19 Integrity Oversight Monitors reviews of the Fisheries Program and reports on DEP’s recent commitment to recoup public funds that should be returned to the State.

Department of Justice

Former federal correctional officer sentenced to prison for Paycheck Protection Program fraud

Department of Justice

Fort Myers Couple Arrested And Charged With More Than $2 Million COVID Relief Fraud

Department of Justice

Five Defendants Sentenced in Connection with Federal Unemployment Fraud

Department of Justice

Two Convicted of Romance and Pandemic Fraud Schemes

Department of Justice

Drug trafficker returns to prison for committing PPP and other pandemic relief fraud while on supervised release

Ashford Richardson has been sentenced to two and a half additional years in prison for fraudulently obtaining a Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) shortly after being released from prison on federal drug trafficking charges. He was on supervised release and subject to monitoring by the U.S. Probation Office when he committed these new crimes.

Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration

American Rescue Plan Act: Assessment of the Expanded Child and Dependent Care and Earned Income Tax Credits

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 6/15/2023

1 - Closed

On February 17, 2022, we notified the Director, Submission Processing, Wage and Investment Division, of our concern with three business rules and recommended that IRS management update the business rule programming to identify and evaluate returns for both refundable and nonrefundable CDCC claims.

2 - Closed

Ensure that programming is updated for Processing Year 2023 to identify taxpayers who reported an obviously invalid care provider TIN on Form 2441.

3 - Closed

Develop a tool or programming for Error Resolution to ensure that tax returns claiming prior year expenses are systemically identified to determine if the maximum CDCC had been claimed in the prior year, before processing the return and potentially releasing erroneous refunds.

4 - Closed

Work with the Department of the Treasury, Office of Tax Policy, to advance legislation to treat a tax return as filed only when it is accepted. This would remove the legal risks associated with rejecting tax returns with conditions that indicate the taxpayer is ineligible for refundable credits claimed on the return.

5 - Closed

If legislation is enacted, develop programming to reject e-filed returns meeting certain conditions, such as those noted in this report.

6 - Closed

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should ensure that the compliance filter criteria for identifying individuals claiming self-only EITC who are not eligible for work is updated to include the *************************.

7 - Closed

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should establish processes to compare subsequent legislative changes with compliance filterprogramming to identify and make necessary changes, as needed.

8 - Closed

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should review the 774,559 returns with self-only EITC from potentially ineligible ******** and take actions needed to recover credits that are determined to be erroneous.

9 - Closed

The Commissioner, Wage and Investment Division, should complete examinations for all 61 tax returns we identified to ensure taxpayers receive the correct CDCC amounts.

Department of Justice

Metro Atlanta man sentenced for money laundering conspiracy involving COVID fraud proceeds

Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration

American Rescue Plan Act: Continued Review of Premium Tax Credit Provisions

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 6/14/2023

1 - Open

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.

2 - Open

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.

2 - Closed

3 - Open

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.

3 - Closed

4 - Closed

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.

5 - Closed

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.

Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration

American Rescue Plan Act: Review of the Reconciliation of the Child Tax Credit

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 6/14/2023

1 - Closed

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.

2 - Closed

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.

3 - Closed

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.

4 - Closed

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.

5 - Closed

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.

6 - Closed

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.

7 - Closed

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.

Date Range

Report Type

Report Category

Submitting Agency

State (State and Local Reports)

Fraud Type

Agency Reviewed

Related Organizations

Management Challenges

Any Recommendations

Any Open Recommendations

Reports

Follow-Up Review of COVID-19 CARES Act Marine Fisheries Assistance Grant Program

Former federal correctional officer sentenced to prison for Paycheck Protection Program fraud

Fort Myers Couple Arrested And Charged With More Than $2 Million COVID Relief Fraud

Five Defendants Sentenced in Connection with Federal Unemployment Fraud

Two Convicted of Romance and Pandemic Fraud Schemes

Drug trafficker returns to prison for committing PPP and other pandemic relief fraud while on supervised release

American Rescue Plan Act: Assessment of the Expanded Child and Dependent Care and Earned Income Tax Credits

Metro Atlanta man sentenced for money laundering conspiracy involving COVID fraud proceeds

American Rescue Plan Act: Continued Review of Premium Tax Credit Provisions

American Rescue Plan Act: Review of the Reconciliation of the Child Tax Credit

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