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.

Taxpayer Compliance and Sources of Error for the Earned Income Tax Credit Claimed on 2006-2008 ReturnsPDF

Authors: Kara Leibel, IRS, Research, Analysis & Statistics
Publication date: August 2014
Written for: Public Release

Compliance Estimates for the Earned Income Tax Credit Claimed on 2006–2008 ReturnsPDF

Authors: IRS, Research, Analysis & Statistics
Publication date: August 2014
Written for: Public Release

IRS's Comprehensive Approach to Compliance MeasurementPDF

Authors: Robert E. Brown, IRS, National Research Program,
Mark J. Mazur, IRS, Research, Analysis, and Statistics
Publication date: June 2003
Written for: 2003 National Tax Association Spring Symposium

Other Analyses

Trends as Changes in Variance: The Case of Tax NoncompliancePDF

Author: Kim M. Bloomquist, IRS
Publication date: June 2003
Written for: 2003 IRS Research Conference

Compliance Estimates for Earned Income Tax Credit Claimed on 1999 ReturnsPDF

Author: IRS
Publication date: June 2002
Written for: 2002 IRS Research Conference

Compliance Measurement and Workload Selection with Operational Audit DataPDF

Author: Brian Erard, B. Erard and Associates
Publication date: June 2002
Written for: 2002 IRS Research Conference

Trends in Book-Tax Income and Balance Sheet DifferencesPDF

Authors: Lillian Mills and Kaye Newberry, University of Arizona,
William B. Trautman, IRS, Large and Mid-Size Business Division
Publication date: June 2002
Written for: 2002 IRS Research Conference

Nonfiler Profiles, Fiscal Year 1993: A Focus on RepeatersPDF

Author: Laura R. Rosage, IRS
Publication date: 1996
Written for: 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.