IG: IRS not stopping $11B in improper credits

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - A government investigator says the Internal Revenue Service isn't doing enough to stop at least $11 billion in tax credits for low-income families from going to people who don't qualify for them each year.

Using the tax agency's own estimates, a Treasury inspector general said Wednesday about a quarter of all earned income tax credits go to families that don't qualify for them.

The inspector general, J. Russell George, says the IRS has known about the improper payments for years but has not done enough to stop them.

IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge says the agency has worked hard to enforce a complicated section of the tax code. She says taxpayers who receive the credits are twice as likely as others to be audited.