Summary: The Treasury Department's Financial Management Service (FMS) has lockbox arrangements with commercial banks, which allow FMS to collect payments made to the federal government, including federal tax payments. The banks establish post office boxes and electronic accounts to receive payments and are responsible for safeguarding and processing the funds. FMS reported that nearly $260 billion was collected through these banks in fiscal year 1998. FMS needs to improve its monitoring of lockbox bank operations to ensure that federal collections are adequately safeguarded and properly processed. GAO found weaknesses in FMS' monitoring of lockbox bank operations related to on-site reviews and lockbox bank audits. Without performing these key monitoring activities, FMS has no guarantee of identifying and resolving internal control weaknesses at lockbox banks in a timely fashion. GAO and other auditors recently reported on weaknesses in internal controls and instances of actual theft of federal tax payments by employees of banks that provide lockbox services for the Internal Revenue Service.
