Senate panel puts off tax fraud bill

The Senate Finance Committee put off considering a measure aimed at battling tax fraud on Wednesday, less than two hours before the mark-up was scheduled to begin.

A spokesman for Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said the committee was taking a second look at some of the proposals, following concerns raised by other tax writers 

{mosads}“At the request of members, the committee is working through additional technical changes to the legislation,” said the spokesman, Aaron Fobes. “Chairman Hatch will reconvene the markup at a later date, once the bill is finalized.”

Tax fraud, and thieves’ use of stolen Social Security numbers to claim fake refunds from the IRS, has become an increasing problem for the federal government in recent years. One federal watchdog found that fraudsters stole around $5.8 billion in refunds in 2013. 

Most of the provisions in the Senate Finance bill, from Hatch and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), are largely uncontroversial. But some Republicans have balked in the past at one of the proposals, which would give the IRS more latitude to regulate paid tax preparers. An advocacy group for accountants also took issue with that particular provision this week.