The government agency in charge of making sure businesses (and individuals) don’t claim deductions they aren’t entitled to doesn’t have the best controls over its own employees. Apparently some workers misused credit cards to purchase wine, party supplies, diet pills, romance novels, and even online pornography.
The IRS has also been under scrutiny lately when it came to light that the agency was targeting groups who had applied for tax exempt status. “Inadequate procedures to identify, report and address inappropriate use leaves the IRS purchase card program vulnerable to repeated violations of applicable laws and regulations,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.
“Clearly, any inappropriate card use impacts our bottom line and is cause for concern,” said acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, who took over the agency last month. “Wasteful spending cannot be tolerated, and any employees found to be abusing the system will be held accountable. In fact, we are following up on several inappropriate incidents mentioned in the report, ranging from internal actions to criminal charges.”
Our government is under sequestration because of budget issues, yet the IRS wastes money on unnecessary purchases? Let’s hope they get this under control and set up new processes and oversight for employees.
Candy
