Attempted federal income tax fraud has shot up 39 percent in the 2012 tax filing season compared to the same time period in 2011, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

And while the IRS is catching more attempted fraud than ever before, that effort is slowing refunds for some legitimate taxpayers.

In the first four months of this year, the IRS identified $6.4 billion claimed in fraudulent tax returns and prevented the issuance of $6.1 billion of that total.

In all of calendar year 2011, the IRS stopped $14.3 billion in fraudelent returns, up from $6.9 billion in 2010. The IRS identified 2.1 million fraudulent-refund returns in 2011, up from 971,511 the previous year.

“Our report found that more unscrupulous individuals than ever are submitting fraudulent tax returns, but the good news is this: The IRS is doing a better job of stopping fraud in its tracks,” said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

But new efforts to catch fraud delayed refunds for some taxpayers, TIGTA found, as the IRS had problems with its filters established to catch fraud.

Other fraud concerns identified by the IRS:

- 210,473 tax returns were filed by prisoners and identified for fraud screening, a 5.3 percent increase compared to last year.

- 125,684 taxpayers claimed more than $29.7 million in erroneous Nonbusiness Energy Property Credits.

- 109,618 taxpayers claimed more than $159 million for the American Opportunity Tax Credit for students who, based on age, are unlikely to be pursuing an undergraduate degree or vocational certification.

Employees politicking, but not on clock

An investigation of allegations that employees of the Ohio Governor’s Office were involved in political activity at work came up empty-handed, according to an Ohio Inspector General’s report released Nov. 20.

The inspector general launched the investigation based on “credible news reports.”

It found several employees of the governor’s office were engaged in circulating, delivering, or filing declarations of candidacy and nominating forms for people who wanted to run for the Ohio Republican State Central Committee in March 2012.

“However no evidence was found to support the allegation that any of the activity took place while the employees were being paid by the state to be at work,” according to a statement from the inspector general’s office.

GAO: Replace dollar bill with coin

Replacing the dollar bill with $1 coins could save the federal government $4.4 billion over 30 years, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

This is largely because each coin has a lifespan of 30 years, while the paper stuff only lasts about 4.7 years.

This is far from the first report issued by the GAO that came to this conclusion — it has been recommended six times over the past 22 years, to be exact — but as the report notes, public opinion for the $1 coin is lukewarm at best.