By Mark Abrams

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to allow local police and prosecutors access to tax information to go after those who are perpetrating tax return fraud.

US senator Pat Toomey appeared today with Montgomery County district attorney Risa Ferman to announce Pennsylvania’s inclusion in a pilot program of information-sharing aimed at stopping fraudulent tax claims to the IRS.

Toomey says he was alerted to problems throughout the state a few months ago in which police and prosecutors were stymied in their efforts to track the source of bogus tax returns that netted identity thieves thousands of dollars.

“The IRS is sending out money to criminals who are not entitled to this money at all,” Toomey says.

Ferman notes that when Toomey’s staff raised the issue, she contacted area police departments and found cases in Montgomery Township and Lower Merion where identity thieves scammed the IRS and victims only found out when they attempted to file legitimate returns and were told they had already filed.