WASHINGTON (AP) — If the IRS really wants to find tax scofflaws, it should look at the federal government.
That's right — the federal government owes about $14 million in unpaid taxes. A Treasury Department watchdog office says that 70 federal agencies owed taxes at the end of last year.
Federal agencies are exempt from paying federal income taxes, but they are responsible for turning over employment taxes, mainly Social Security and Medicare taxes, that their employees must pay.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration says 40 of these delinquent tax accounts totaling about $2.6 million were still open three years after being identified. In 80 percent of those cases, the investigations had been suspended.
