he joined kiplinger in 1977 is -- has a reporter specializing in taxes. he helps us out in this annual tradition on tax day to talk about tax filings. eastern central time zones, the phone of her to call is 202-748-8000. mountain and pacific --202-748-8001. let's go to mike in florida. caller: good morning. i heard your comments about the fraud and the delay and i was wondering -- since taxes are done once a year and this would be a quick fix kind of checkmate in regards to fraud. the people that receive funds should have to go to the bank. that way, they would have to walk in the bank and now they are on camera. that would be one quick fix of preventing fraud. i do not know what you think about that. that is off the top of my head. guest: you have 110 million taxpayer who get refunds. if you are asking 110 million people to go to the banks, i do not think the banks are going to be happy. it will slow the process. i agree that it would solve the problem. an easier fix, and it is something congress talked about, require employers to get this information to

sibling or has done a few. -- kiplinger has done a few.ive us some of the stats and why is fraud on the rise? guest: because everything is automated. in the old days, you had to make up a phony dubya to form. -- w-2 form. now all you need is a name social security number and date of birth to file electronically. 900,000 refunds were stolen by fraudulent returns. the irs is trying to put in more safeguards. they say 900,000 that refunds were paid but they stop 2.5 million more. they are doing a pretty good job. but fraud is overwhelming. the commission last week said they put 2000 to 3000 people in jail or refund fraud. he said we have the amateurs off the street. the reason it is there is you are talking $1 trillion. there is a lot of money. host: a colleague at killing her wrote a piece, what to do if someone files a tax return in your name. guest: what happens with a lot people -- two people have called me -- they get letters from the irs that say, we have a problem with your return. they call the number and they say "i have not filed."

kevin, editorial director of kiplinger washington editors. a reporter with investment news, and vice chair of the nbc publications committee. [applause] mr. hughes: welcome to tax season. americans have 16 days to get their federal returns filed, but for our speaker, mr. koskinen, every day is tax day. [laughter] mr. hughes: john koskinen oversees the collection mr. hughes of $3 trillion every year. he has been on the job for about 15 months. how has it gone so far? during the first half of his tenure, he testified frequently on capitol hill. questions revolved around allegations of the irs targeted conservative groups to deny them tax-exempt status. when he wasn't testifying, he was wrestling with budget cuts imposed by congress. the irs audited 0.57% of businesses in 2014. that was the lowest rate since 2005. money being used to enforce an -- and implement the affordable care act has attributed to reduced staff on the telephone helpdesk. at one point, koskinen said agency belt-tightening might result in a miserable 2015 filing season. koski

mark, senior associate editor and kiplinger's personal finance and treasurer of the national press club. [applause] the united nations celebrates its 70th birthday later this year. that's seven decades of international peacekeeping humanitarian aid assistance with economic development and support of human rights. while particulars of the u.n. agenda change from time to time the underlying goal has remained constant to prevent another conflict like world war ii. ban ki-moon the foreign minister of south korea serving a second term as u.n. secretary-general. he has been on the job since 2007 and he is the eighth person to hold this post. during his tenure the u.n. has just wanted to crisis in darfur were, the proliferation of weapons of mass distraction, the effects of local warming and terrorism. he also faces challenges such as water shortages worldwide, the ebola outbreak in western africa and civil conflict in ukraine and syria. despite these immediate challenges he has focused on long-term goals as well such as ending violence against women and improving education for the largest gen

kevin mccormally is the editorial director at kiplinger. we appreciate the time. that is our show for a saturday morning. join us tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern, 4:00 a.m. pacific we will be joined i the president of the american federation of features as we talk about education policy. we will also be joined by the chair of the libertarian national committee to look at the political, ideological, and cultural views of the libertarian party. willie -- we will be joined by the -- the local correspondent from the "washington post." that is tomorrow morning on "the washington journal." ♪ >> next, a conversation in on the latest in batter technology. then, in conversation with biochemist craig venter. then, the world bank president. next, a look at next generation battery technology with washington correspondent steve levine and a director from argonne technology. hosted by atlantic council. jeffrey: welcome everybody and good afternoon. welcome to the atlantic council. we are pleased to have you all here today. i want to apologize in advance. we had some inter

from your right, mark, senior associate editor for kiplinger washington editors and treasurer of thes club. marilyn gewacs senior business news editor for national public radio and a member of the npc board of governors. michelle salceda desk editor for the associated press. rosemary marcus director for research analysis and statistics for the irs and a guest of the speaker. gale degeorge, enterprise editor for the economy team at bloomberg news. pat koskinen wife of our speaker and guest of our speaker. jerry srmiski chair of the speaker's v bureau chief for the buffalo news and former president of the national press club. skipping over our speaker for a moment, robert cardin, freelance writer, and the npc speaker's committee member who arranged today's program. thank you, bob. eric smith, an irs spokesman, and guest of the speaker. mark hamrich, washington bureau chief for bankrate.com, and former president of the national press club. kevin kevin mckormally. mark chef a reporter with investment news and vice chair of the npc, publications committee. [ applause ] well, welcome to ta

on saturday, we were joined by the editorial director at kiplinger.e took your questions about taxes. he also discussed the effect of budget cuts on the irs. here is a bit from that segment. >> i was at a speech. his predecessor who was the first commissioner said every time they cut the budget, we can get by with less. he says we don't have enough money. they have 5000 fewer agents auditing returns than there used to be five years ago. we all love to hate the irs. they keep the government going. congress loves to slash their funding. there was a controversy a few years ago. host: that was kevin mccormick on our show. he got a question that he could not answer at the time. can you use your flexible spending accounts on kids medical expenses if they are still on your health insurance but too old to claim as dependents? i heard from him yesterday. he said in his follow-up yes the allow -- loud -- law allows for reimbursement. the child must be under 27 years old at the end of the year. there is no reimbursement if his birthday is in december. the rule k