The Internal Revenue Service unit that untangles tax-related identity theft shrank from 1,548 assistors in fiscal 2024 to 1,173 in fiscal 2025, while nearly 316,000 victims’ cases were still open at the end of that year, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration audit released Sept. 21. For older taxpayers whose refunds are frozen after a thief files first, the numbers translate into a long wait with little word on progress.
A headcount that fell by 375 in one year
The audit, report 2026-100-050, titled “The Process To Resolve Identity Theft Cases Is Long, Costly, and Frustrating for Taxpayers,” counts the assistors in the IRS Identity Theft Victim Assistance organization by year: 1,472 in fiscal 2023, 1,548 in fiscal 2024 and 1,173 in fiscal 2025. TIGTA wrote that the organization “recently lost nearly 300 assistors,” a loss it linked in part to the federal Deferred Resignation Program.
The remaining staff is more experienced. Of the 1,173 assistors, 985, or 84 percent, were fully trained, up from 856 of 1,548 a year earlier. That improvement did not offset the smaller workforce. TIGTA put the open inventory at about 316,000 cases as of Sept. 27, 2025, and at 315,740 cases when fiscal 2025 closed.
582 days against a 120-day goal
Cases that reach an assistor take a long time to close. The audit reported an average of 582 calendar days in fiscal 2025 against an IRS goal of 120 days. Across fiscal 2023 through 2025, victims waited about 20 months on average. In the sample TIGTA analyzed, cases averaged nearly two years, and 533 of the 655 calendar days in the average case were spent waiting for assignment to an assistor.
The wait carries a cost to the government as well. TIGTA reported that the IRS paid $124,248,921 in refund interest across fiscal 2023 through 2025, rising from $17.1 million to $45.6 million to $61.6 million a year, a sign of how many refunds sat in the queue.
One-third of paper affidavits met silence
Victims who suspect a thief used a Social Security number report it on Form 14039, the Identity Theft Affidavit. TIGTA broke down what happened to fiscal 2025 submissions. Forty-seven percent were sent electronically or by fax and drew an electronic confirmation, 19 percent were attached to a paper tax return and drew an acknowledgment letter, and 33 percent were mailed without a return and received no confirmation or letter at all.
The problem is not new. TIGTA found that about 40 percent of taxpayers whose fiscal 2023 cases closed received no acknowledgment letter, closing letter or both. Without a letter, a victim holds no written confirmation from the IRS that the affidavit arrived.
What the law says victims are supposed to be told
TIGTA tied the letter gap to a statutory duty. The Taxpayer First Act requires the IRS notification to a suspected victim to include instructions on filing a report with law enforcement, information on actions the person can take to protect against further harm and identity protection measures such as an Identity Protection PIN. The audit said a delayed notice deprives individuals of the information needed to protect themselves from further harm. For a retiree living on a fixed income, a missing letter can mean months of not knowing whether a stolen return is the reason a refund has not arrived.
The audit also noted that the Deferred Resignation Program contributed to the staffing loss, which leaves the trained share of the workforce at 84 percent but the total number of people available to work each case lower than in either of the two prior years. The report, addressed to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, set out its three recommendations against that backdrop.
What the IRS agreed to and what it rejected
TIGTA made three recommendations. The IRS agreed to develop procedures to judge case complexity and speed assignment, though management said it would first assess whether artificial intelligence could help before reassigning trained employees. It also agreed to explore a systemic process for acknowledgment letters on claims without personal information. It disagreed with the third, a verification process for acknowledgment and closing letters, saying such processes already exist. Diana M. Tengesdal, TIGTA’s Deputy Inspector General for Audit, is among the officials named on the report.
The steps the IRS itself lists for victims
The IRS identity theft guide for individuals tells victims to “file returns and pay tax as usual” even when a thief has filed first. It says Form 14039 should be filed only if the IRS directs it, if the online Identity and Tax Return Verification Service cannot be used, or to report suspected tax-related identity theft not yet on file. Verification and return-status questions go to 800-908-4490, and the Taxpayer Advocate Service is available for disputes that stay unresolved.
Prevention runs through the Identity Protection PIN, a six-digit number the IRS says prevents someone else from filing a return with a taxpayer’s Social Security number. Anyone with a Social Security number or ITIN who can verify identity may enroll, and the PIN is valid for one calendar year. The Federal Trade Commission’s IdentityTheft.gov supplies a recovery plan covering credit freezes, tax fraud and Social Security fraud, and the IRS lists it alongside the identity theft hub as the starting point for reporting.
On the question of timing, the guide cites 6 to 8 weeks for paper return processing, a figure that says nothing about how long an identity-theft case takes, which TIGTA measured at 582 days.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
