IRS Made Errors in Stimulus Payments to 400,000 Taxpayers

The IRS wants to close the tax gap by auditing more taxpayers but maybe they should start with themselves first:

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released Evaluation of the Planning, Computation, and Issuance of the Recovery Rebate Credit (2009-40-129), reporting that:

* The IRS issued more than $96 billion in advanced economic stimulus payments (up to $1,2000 for married couples filing jointly) to more than 119 million taxpayers in Calendar Year 2008 and approximately $8.5 billion in payments to almost 21 million taxpayers as of April 17, 2009.
* 259,000 taxpayers did not receive $84.6 million in payments due to various IRS errors.
* 141,000 taxpayers received $60.6 million in payments for which they were ineligible due to various IRS errors.

Look, I'm the first to say the IRS is saddled with an impossible, and thankless, task. Overall, they do a pretty good job. But when they don't, the consequences can be devastating.

But don't worry, when the government takes over health care, nothing like this will ever happen.