CARY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Internal Revenue Service will use SAS Analytics to help detect, prevent and resolve criminal and civil noncompliance with tax law. Technology from the leader in business analytics software and services will support the agency’s new electronic Return Review Program (RRP) system.
The RRP is designed to help reduce the $345 billion tax gap – the difference between what taxpayers owe and what they pay voluntarily and on time. SAS can help by improving fraud detection and uncovering noncompliance at the time tax returns are initially filed, reducing the issuance of questionable refunds. Tax credit fraud ranges from child adoption or earned income tax credits to ghost tax-return preparers and identity theft.
“There is a significant opportunity to avoid improper refunds and payments of large sums of money,” said Karen Knowles, President of SAS Federal. “With SAS, the IRS can reduce the number and amount of fraudulent tax refunds, discover emerging fraud schemes and increase tax collections to shrink the tax gap.”
SAS scores tax returns through a hybrid approach of business rules, anomaly detection, predictive modeling and social network analysis. Users can easily set up business rules that detect possible fraud and immediately alert investigators or auditors to suspect returns. The software searches data for anomalies that could indicate fraud or error. Predictive modeling uses historical behavioral information to identify suspicious behaviors similar to known fraud patterns. Social network analysis uncovers hidden relationships or linkages that suggest collusion and organized fraud rings.
Another weapon against fraud, SAS Text Miner scours unstructured data, such as call center data, to detect suspicious activity. Alerts and results are reported via a customizable dashboard. SAS’ case management capabilities help investigators prioritize and assign cases.
The $6.25 million contract will give the IRS Return Review Program access to many SAS technologies, including SAS Fraud Framework for Government, SAS Social Network Analysis and SAS’ industry-leading data integration, data mining and business intelligence technologies. To analyze massive amounts of data, the IRS will have big data analytics capabilities through SAS In-Database functionality, SAS Scoring Accelerator for Greenplum and SAS® Grid Manager.
SAS combines an array of technologies to tackle fraud, waste and improper payments in many areas of government – from detecting collusive patterns in entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid to purchase-card fraud, bid-rigging and terrorist financing.
For more than three decades, SAS has provided innovative solutions targeting the unique needs of the federal government. All 15 US federal departments and 80 national governments worldwide use SAS software’s analytic and predictive capabilities for critical initiatives such as performance management, budgeting, logistics, cyberdefense, combating fraud and improper payments, and threat assessment.
About SAS
SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions SAS helps customers at more than 50,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®. SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2011 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.
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