Message: 2 Reply-To: "Marsha Rose Joyner" <mrjoy at hawaii.rr.com> From: "Marsha Rose Joyner" <mrjoy at hawaii.rr.com> To: <afroam-l at duke.edu>, <sncc at honors.olemiss.edu>, <urban- leaders at nul.org>,
<diaspora2000 at yahoogroups.com> Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 21:27:59 -1000 Subject: [SNCC] IRS Erroneously Paid Slavery Credits
IRS Erroneously Paid Slavery Credits=20
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Internal Revenue Service mistakenly paid out more = than $30 million to tax filers seeking nonexistent slavery tax credits = in 2000 and 2001, according to a Treasury Department investigation. ..
APRIL 13, 23:23 ET=20 IRS Erroneously Paid Slavery Credits=20
By CURT ANDERSON=20 AP Tax Writer=20
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Internal Revenue Service mistakenly paid out more = than $30 million to tax filers seeking nonexistent slavery tax credits = in 2000 and 2001, according to a Treasury Department investigation.=20
A growing number of black taxpayers are being misled by scams falsely = claiming that, for a fee, they can get tax credits or refunds as = reparations for slavery. The scams are given credence when some = taxpayers actually get money.=20
The IRS received more than 77,000 tax returns last year claiming $2.7 = billion in reparations refunds, up from 13,000 the year before. Last = year, the IRS discovered that some erroneous refunds were being issued = but was only partly effective in stopping them.=20
The Treasury inspector general for tax administration, David C. = Williams, said in Senate testimony this week that refunds of more than = $80,000 were issued ``in some instances'' to married couples when each = spouse claimed the reparations credit.=20
In 2000 and the first four months of 2001, Williams said, more than $30 = million in erroneous reparations payments were paid. After April of last = year, a computer program developed by the inspector general identified = an additional $16.1 million in claims before they were paid.=20
The Washington Post, citing an unidentified official, reported that one = IRS employee is under investigation for allegedly helping process = returns that claimed the credit. At least 12 current and former IRS = employees, all low-level workers in processing centers, applied to = receive such a credit, the newspaper report said.=20
Typical scams use terms such as ``black investment taxes,'' =
``reparations for African-Americans'' or a ``black inheritance tax = refund.''=20
This is the first indication of what these scams cost the government. = Most of the mistaken payments were for about $43,000, a figure Essence = magazine suggested in 1993 as the updated value of 40 acres and a mule, = which some freed slaves were given under an order by a Union general = during the Civil War.=20
The tax agency is now trying to recover the money it paid out, though = officials would not disclose how much has been collected.=20
Starting Monday, the IRS will be begin levying a $500 fine on taxpayers = who do not withdraw the claim if they have been caught.=20
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On the Net:=20
Internal Revenue Service: http://www.irs.gov=20
Treasury inspector general: http://www.ustreas.gov/tigta