Compliance analysis
This section contains a wide variety of papers related to taxpayer compliance, including:
- Analyses using National Research Program (NRP) data
- Analysis of noncompliance other than the tax gap
- IRS Reports to Congress
All files on this page are available in Adobe® PDF format, which requires the free Adobe Acrobat® Reader to view and print the file.
Using NRP data
The IRS National Research Program conducts a variety of studies (e.g., audits of a random sample of tax returns) to gather data on voluntary compliance. The papers below describe or use the NRP data for purposes other than estimating the tax gap.
| Title | Author | Publication date | Written for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxpayer Compliance and Sources of Error for the Earned Income Tax Credit Claimed on 2006-2008 Returns PDF | Kara Leibel, IRS, Research, Analysis & Statistics | August 2014 | Public release |
| Compliance Estimates for the Earned Income Tax Credit Claimed on 2006–2008 Returns PDF | IRS, Research, Analysis & Statistics | August 2014 | Public release |
| IRS's Comprehensive Approach to Compliance Measurement PDF | Robert E. Brown, IRS, National Research Program, Mark J. Mazur, IRS, Research, Analysis, and Statistics |
June 2003 | 2003 National Tax Association Spring Symposium |
Other analyses
| Title | Author | Publication date | Written for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trends as Changes in Variance: The Case of Tax Noncompliance PDF | Kim M. Bloomquist, IRS | June 2003 | 2003 IRS Research Conference |
| Compliance Estimates for Earned Income Tax Credit Claimed on 1999 Returns PDF | IRS | June 2002 | 2002 IRS Research Conference |
| Compliance Measurement and Workload Selection with Operational Audit Data PDF | Brian Erard, B. Erard and Associates | June 2002 | 2002 IRS Research Conference |
| Trends in Book-Tax Income and Balance Sheet Differences PDF | Lillian Mills and Kaye Newberry, University of Arizona, William B. Trautman, IRS, Large and Mid-Size Business Division |
June 2002 | 2002 IRS Research Conference |
| Nonfiler Profiles, Fiscal Year 1993: A Focus on Repeaters PDF | Laura R. Rosage, IRS | 1996 | SOI Bulletin, Summer Issue |
IRS Report to Congress
The IRS generally considers three dimensions of tax compliance: filing, payment, and reporting. In 2003, IRS issued a Report to Congress detailing IRS tax compliance activities for 1996–2002. In fiscal year 2002, the National Research Program (NRP) was initiated, envisioned as an ongoing, comprehensive effort to measure taxpayers' voluntary compliance with tax law and develop updated methods for identifying returns likely to be noncompliant.