ICIJ
•IRS criminal referrals to US prosecutors hit a 40-year low in 2024 - ICIJ
83% Informative
The IRS sent fewer criminal cases to federal prosecutors in the 2024 fiscal year than at any point in more than 40 years .
The declining case numbers add to a list of recent woes for the tax agency.
Experts attribute them to years of deep budget cuts, Covid -era interruptions, and U.S. attorneys offices around the country that are hesitant or ill-trained to take on complex tax cases that the IRS brings them.
The IRS sent 1,794 cases to the Justice Department in the 2024 fiscal year falls short of 1978 total.
The number is all the more striking because it encompasses tax fraud cases as well as other criminal offenses not related to tax.
The IRS said on average its civil agents send nearly 200 referrals to criminal investigators per year.
The Justice Department's reluctance to take on the cases can then lead to a disincentive for IRS agents to craft such cases.
VR Score
88
Informative language
89
Neutral language
43
Article tone
semi-formal
Language
English
Language complexity
65
Offensive language
not offensive
Hate speech
not hateful
Attention-grabbing headline
not detected
Known propaganda techniques
not detected
Time-value
short-lived
External references
3
Source diversity
3
Affiliate links
no affiliate links