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IMAGINARY TWINS DEDUCTED FOR 10 YEARS

June 24, 2008

I thought the IRS social security number matching system was more efficient than this:

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - A Belgrade woman admits that, for more than a decade, she claimed non-existant twin children as dependents on her income tax returns.

Ruth Amende pleaded guilty this week in Missoula federal court to five counts of tax evasion and one count of misusing a Social Security number. The 57-year-old woman admitted her purported twins - Victor and Victoria - did not exist.

Amende says she made them up to receive larger income tax refunds from both the federal and state governments.

When the government first required taxpayers to report dependent social security numbers on returns, the number of reported dependents suddenly dropped by 7 million. Yet apparently there remain a few who exist only in the taxpayer's 1040.

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