even more disturbing, over half of those left are unimplemented recommendations over a year old. now we can imagine how the american people would react if a private company had so many persistent holes in its data system where it wrongfully paid criminals $23 billion of their money. another obvious way to prevent fraud suggested by government watchdogs is for the i.r.s. to first receive employment w-2 forms before issuing refunds. here's what happens. employers issue w-2's. that's how much you earn, what the tax reductions, and other payments were worth. and we attach those to our tax returns. the problem is that the returns that go to the government and the returns that come in from the taxpayer are not coordinated, and so there's a gap that potentially exists. the 2017 tax filing season will be the first year of an accelerated system implemented to address this particular issue, because the legislation that was passed in 2015, which i supported, has accelerated the i issuance of w-2's to the i.r.s. so the i.r.s. can verify the validity of the return. in the meantime i will cont