More than $16 billion in overdue taxes were written off as uncollectible by Internal Revenue Service field offices last year, five times the amount that was recovered, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

TIGTA blamed poor standards for determining which delinquent taxpayers to target. Little attempt is made to discern who is most likely to be able to pay, or to select more current cases where collection is most likely, TIGTA said in a report made public Oct. 9.