SOI Tax Stats - SOI Bulletin: Spring 2011

High-Income Tax Returns for 2008PDF
by Justin Bryan

For 2008, there were 4,375,660 individual income tax returns that reported adjusted gross income (AGI) of $200,000 or more, and 4,416,986 with expanded income of $200,000 or more. These high-income returns represent 3.072 percent and 3.101 percent, respectively, of all returns filed for 2008.

Individual Income Tax Returns, by Age of Primary Taxpayer, Tax Years 1997 and 2007PDF
by Jeff Curry and Jonathan Dent

Individual income taxpayers filed approximately 143 million returns in 2007, a 16.8-percent increase from the 122.4 million returns filed in 1997. Taxpayers whose ages were 35 to 44 filed the most returns in 1997 and 2007, with 27.1 million returns filed by the age group in both years. This age group also accounted for the largest percentage of adjusted gross income (AGI) in 1997, representing 26.6 percent of total AGI claimed in this year.

1997: 1aXLS, 2aXLS, 3aXLS, 4aXLS

2007: 1bXLS, 2bXLS, 3bXLS, 4bXLS

Individual Income Tax Returns, by State, 2007PDF
by Taquesha Cain

For Tax Year 2007, there were approximately 142.2 million individual income tax returns, excluding the additional tax returns filed solely for the economic stimulus payment. The adjusted gross income (AGI) reported on these returns totaled slightly less than $8.7 trillion.

Foreign Recipients of U.S. Income, 2008PDF
by Scott Luttrell

U.S.-source income payments to foreign persons, as reported on Form 1042-S, rose to $659.7 billion in Tax Year 2008. The 2.0-percent increase from 2007 was fueled primarily by growth in notional principal contract income, which rose by 59.7 percent between 2007 and 2008. Meanwhile, interest payments declined by 5.7 percent and dividends fell by 8.3 percent between 2007 and 2008.

International Boycott Reports, 2007 and 2008PDF
by Melissa Costa

For Tax Year 2007, 120 U.S. entities received about 4,800 requests to participate in boycotts unsanctioned by the United States, while for Tax Year 2008, 138 U.S. persons received about 3,700 requests. Those receiving requests composed about 7.9 percent of the 1,509 U.S. persons who reported operations in, with, or related to countries known to participate in unsanctioned boycotts for Tax Year 2007 and about 8.6 percent of the 1,596 reporting such operations for Tax Year 2008. Of those receiving requests, 26 agreed to participate for Tax Year 2007 and 33 for Tax Year 2008. Roughly 1 percent of those with operations in countries known to participate in unsanctioned boycotts reported tax consequences for both years.

2008 GiftsPDF
by Melissa J. Belvedere

The gift tax is one of three parts of the Federal transfer tax system, along with the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes. The gift tax is imposed on a gifts made during the donor’s lifetime, known as inter vivos gifts. Donors use Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, to report those gifts. This article presents data on gifts made during 2008. Donors filed a total of 234,714 returns for 2008, reporting a total of $40.2 billion in assets transferred to 927,554 donees, primarily children and grandchildren. Most gifts were given directly to recipients. However, family trusts were used more commonly than other vehicles. The majority of gifts given were in the form of cash, while the next most commonly used form of gift was corporate stock.