(CNN) -- Criminals who file fraudulent tax returns by stealing people's identities could rake in an estimated $26 billion over the next five years because the IRS cannot keep up with the amount of the fraud, Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George said Tuesday. "Our analysis found that, although the IRS detects and prevents a large number of fraudulent refunds based on false income documents, there is much fraud that it does not detect," said George's prepared testimony before a joint hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittees on Oversight and Social Security. George's report is the first detailed analysis of the tax refund fraud problem, which could affect any legitimate taxpayer. His projection of $26 billion is larger than any other estimate of identity theft tax fraud.
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The Treasury's estimate is the first detailed analysis of the ongoing problem
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With budget cuts, the IRS cannot deal with the fraud, according to inspector general
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IRS says it stopped the issuance of $1.3 billion in potentially fraudulent tax returns
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