Shinn to chair committee

BRADENTON - The Florida Institute of CPAs (FICPA) has appointed Byron Shinn, managing partner of Shinn & Co., to chair a committee to draft legislation aimed at reducing identity theft and tax fraud, according to a news release.

“FICPA members believe the penalties for criminals and protections for Americans are too lax in the bills that have been introduced thus far,” Shinn says in the release. “We have seen first-hand how devastating this problem is for clients. We plan to include additional authentication processes and matching procedures to protect the citizens and the U.S. Treasury from the fraudulent activity.”

In 2011, the IRS reported it detected 940,000 fraudulent tax returns with $6.5 billion in associated fraudulent refunds involving identity theft, according to a Treasury report.

Shinn & Co. is a CPA and business-consulting firm based in Bradenton. Founded in 1905, the FICPA has more than 18,000 members in the state.