The government is slow to act, that's often a good thing to keep it from reacting quickly where some discussion or just delay is the wiser course. I get the impression the IRS has proposals to add these types of identity checks, but the inherent delays in decision-making mean any real change is years away. Does anyone know of a plan for the IRS to improve validation of refund requests?
I've contacted IRS numerous times on this subject and they've indicated to no concrete plan and timeline to act decisively.
In their defense - there are some quick and easy checks they could implement tomorrow, but the most definitive one is would be to check the W-2 the taxpayer enters vs. the W-2 they receive from the taxpayer's employer. The problem with this is - IRS doesn't receive the W-2 from the employer until after most refunds are issued. When they've pressed for it, small business owners and payroll providers push back hard, throwing out the "overreaching government" accusation.