As of March 2, the IRS flagged 1.1 million tax returns with $6.3 billion in refunds for potential identity fraud.
The IRS confirmed in an interim report on the 2023 tax filing season that 12,617 returns were fraudulent, preventing the distribution of $105.3 million in refunds. The number of confirmed fraudulent returns is up about 3,000 from the same time last year.
The report states that the agency is using 236 filters to identify possible fraud in returns during the 2023 season, up from 168 filters used last year.
The filters use criteria based on characteristics from fraudulent tax returns, including income and withholding amounts claimed, filing requirements, age, filing history and prisoner status. Read more.