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Wait, so they report earning some large amount of money, and claim they overpaid taxes on that? And then get a refund?

... is that seriously all it took?

The IRS accepts most statements made regarding facts on return unless there is clear error, in particular because refunds are due (per statute) much faster than the IRS is able to gather all relevant information on whether it is factually owed or not in some edge cases.

The backstopping function is that stealing from the IRS is a really bad idea because you'll probably be interacting with them the rest of your life and because you probably want access to the US financial system at some point.

> The backstopping function is that stealing from the IRS is a really bad idea because you'll probably be interacting with them the rest of your life

Unless you are a foreign criminal stealing a US citizen's identity, in which case you don't care a hoot about their future relationship with the IRS.

It's one thing for them not to know what is owed. But surely they know what's already been paid? No amount of errors on a W-2 or 1099 or whatever will make me eligible to receive a refund of taxes I never paid.

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