The Justice Department on Wednesday unveiled a nationwide tax fraud enforcement operation involving 76 defendants and more than $490 million in estimated intended tax losses. The announcement included new charges against 31 people accused of schemes targeting U.S. taxpayers.
The first National Tax Enforcement Surge brought together 35 U.S. attorneys’ offices and criminal investigators from the IRS during a roughly six-week operation. Authorities announced 23 new charging actions tied to more than $350 million in alleged intended losses. The effort also covered 45 defendants involved in trials, guilty pleas and sentencings connected to nearly $140 million in estimated intended losses.
“Every dollar stolen through tax fraud is a dollar taken from the American people,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a news release. “What we uncovered during this concentrated surge is only the tip of the iceberg. The Department of Justice is committed to expanding our investigations and exposing schemes designed to evade accountability, because there is no safe haven for fraudsters.”
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald speaks during a Justice Department news conference announcing charges in home daycare fraud schemes in San Diego, California, on Sept. 15, 2026. (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)
At Wednesday’s news conference, IRS Criminal Investigation chief Jarod Koopman called the initiative a new model for tax enforcement and said additional operations are expected.
“The consolidated actions we are announcing today represent an entirely new approach in our enforcement strategy: partnering with DOJ to strategically surge resources around a broad range of tax crimes,” Koopman said. “Although this type of enforcement is the first of its kind, it will not be the last.”
The IRS (Internal Revenue Service) headquarters building in Washington DC (Getty Images)
One of the largest cases involved an alleged fraudulent trust operation in Texas. Four defendants were charged with promoting tax shelters that prosecutors say hid more than $1.5 billion in income and resulted in over $200 million in estimated tax losses.
In Georgia, three Mexican citizens were indicted over an alleged $74 million tax refund scheme involving more than 16,000 U.S. Treasury checks. Prosecutors claim the defendants used identification documents belonging to other people in Mexico to obtain IRS taxpayer identification numbers and submit fraudulent tax returns.
IRS CEO Frank Bisignano speaks during a Columbus Day event at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 9, 2026. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When asked how much money taxpayers might ultimately recover, Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said fraud proceeds are sometimes spent before investigators can seize them.
McDonald said the Justice Department is creating an asset forfeiture and recovery team to track property allegedly bought with fraud proceeds, including luxury cars and real estate. He did not give an overall recovery estimate, explaining that several investigations are still in their early stages.
The enforcement surge comes after the Justice Department created its National Fraud Enforcement Division in April. All defendants charged in the cases are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
