Evidence?
Swamped Mellon Staff Hid IRS Tax Returns
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Reuters) - Mellon Financial Corp. (NYSE:MEL - news) on Tuesday said a scandal reportedly involving thousands of missing tax filings at a Pittsburgh unit that processed returns was apparently caused by several employees who hid documents because they were behind in their work.
The Pittsburgh-based banking company shut the Internal Revenue Service processing unit, eliminating 106 jobs, in August, after as many as 40,000 taxpayer returns were lost or destroyed, newspapers have said. The employees involved hid returns in an area with documents meant to be shredded, Mellon Chief Executive Martin McGuinn wrote in a letter to staff.
``As best as we know, they did this because they felt they were behind in their work in processing IRS returns,'' McGuinn wrote. ``Their actions blatantly violated our long-established, clearly stated policies.''
But the investigation failed to turn up any evidence of check fraud, identity theft or improper use of taxpayer information, Mellon said. The bank said it already has placed 50 of the employees that lost their jobs in new positions.
Mellon has processed returns for the IRS since 1993 at the self-contained Pittsburgh unit. Tom Walker Bowen Island, BC 604 947 2213