Collections, activities, penalties and appeals

 

This section of the IRS Data Book presents information on collections and penalties resulting from individuals’ or entities’ failure to comply with the tax code. Failure to comply with filing, reporting and payment requirements may result in civil penalties or, in some cases, criminal investigation. IRS’s Collection function collects Federal taxes that have been reported or assessed but not paid and secures tax returns that have not been filed. Additionally, this section presents data on the IRS Independent Office of Appeals workload. The mission of Appeals is to resolve tax controversies without litigation, on a basis that is fair and impartial to both the taxpayer and the Federal Government.

Graphic shows the amount of civil penalties assessed by the IRS in fiscal year 2023, a total of $65.6 billion. Over $44.4 billion was assessed on individual and estate and trust income tax returns; $5.9 billion was assessed on businesses.

View chart details XLSX. For additional graphs from this section, download the PDF of this year’s Data Book PDF.

Highlights of the data

  • In Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, the IRS collected more than $104.1 billion in unpaid assessments on returns filed with additional tax due, net­ting about $68.3 billion after credit transfers (Table 27 XLSX).
  • The IRS assessed more than $25.6 bil­lion in additional taxes for returns not filed timely and collected almost $2.8 billion with delinquent returns (Table 27 XLSX).
  • In FY 2023, taxpayers proposed 30,163 offers in compromise to settle existing tax liabilities for less than the full amount owed. IRS ac­cepted 12,711 offers, amounting to $214.5 million, during the year (Table 27 XLSX).

Index of Data Book Tables

Collection activities, penalties, and appeals: Tables 27–29

Table 27: Delinquent Collection Activities, Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023 XLSX
Table 28: Civil Penalties Assessed and Abated, by Type of Tax and Type of Penalty, Fiscal Year 2023 XLSX
Table 29: Appeals Workload, by Type of Case, Fiscal Year 2023 XLSX

Data for all years


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