Compliance Presence

This section of the IRS Data Book highlights the IRS’s compliance efforts. Examinations (audits) of most types of tax returns, information reporting and verification, math error notices, and criminal investigations are critical tools for determining if income, expenses and credits are being accurately reported and to identify and resolve taxpayer errors and identify fraud. These tools ensure that IRS has a presence across all income and asset levels of taxpayers. While the IRS accepts most returns as filed, some are selected for examination using various methods, including random sampling and computerized screening. Most IRS examinations are conducted through the mail (correspondence) or face-to-face (field).

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Highlights of the Data

• The exam coverage rate for TY 2018 (the most recent year outside the statute of limitations period) of indi­vidual taxpayers reporting total positive income (TPI) of $10 million or more was 9.2 percent. The rate for taxpayers with TPI of $5–10 million was 2.2 percent, and 1.2 percent for those with TPI of $1–5 million (Table 17XLSX).
• In FY 2022, the IRS closed 708,309 tax return audits, resulting in nearly $30.2 billion in recommended ad­ditional tax (Table 18XLSX).
• The IRS closed almost 1.6 mil­lion cases under the Automated Underreporter Program in FY 2022, resulting in more than $8.7 billion in additional assessments. In addi­tion, the IRS closed 295,577 cases under its Automated Substitute for Return Program, resulting in more than $2.9 billion in additional as­sessments (Table 22XLSX).
• In FY 2022, the IRS completed 2,552 criminal investigations in three areas—1,003 legal-source tax crime cases, which involve activities, industries, and occupa­tions that generate legitimate in­come or threats to the tax system; 1,005 illegal-source financial crime cases, which relate to proceeds derived from unlawful sources such as money laundering; and 544 narcotics-related financial crime cases, which involve in­vestigating narcotics-related tax and money-laundering crimes. These cases are often investigated in cooperation with the Justice Department and other law enforce­ment agencies (Table 24XLSX).

Index of Data Book Tables

Compliance Presence: Tables 17–24

Table 17: Examination Coverage and Recommended Additional Tax After Examination, by Type and Size of Return, Tax Years 2012-2020XLSX
Table 18: Examination Coverage: Recommended Additional Tax, and Returns with Unagreed Additional Tax, After Examination, by Type and Size of Return, Fiscal Year 2022XLSX
Table 19: Examination Coverage: Returns Examined Involving Protection of Revenue Base, by Type and Size of Return, Fiscal Year 2022XLSX
Table 20: Examination Coverage: Returns Examined Resulting in Refunds, by Type and Size of Return, Fiscal Year 2022XLSX
Table 21: Examinations of Tax-Exempt Organizations, Employee Retirement Plans, Government Entities, and Tax-Exempt Bonds, by Type of Return, Fiscal Year 2022XLSX
Table 22: Information Reporting Program, Fiscal Year 2022 XLSX
Table 23: Math Errors on Individual Income Tax Returns, by Type of Error, Fiscal Year 2022XLSX
Table 24: Criminal Investigation Program, by Status or Disposition, Fiscal Year 2022XLSX

Data for all years

• Table 17
• Table 18
• Table 19
• Table 20
• Table 21
• Table 22
• Table 23
• Table 24

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