IRS Examination of Returns for
Business Income and Other Taxpayers

Fiscal Year
Total Return
Filings*
 Number of  
Audits
   Rate per   
1,000
Returns
1996
 40,752,700 207,839 5.1
1997
 41,242,400 230,317 5.6
1998
 42,528,700 186,006 4.4
1999
 42,818,800 140,197 3.3
2000
 42,565,200 109,589 2.6
2001
 42,819,100 93,502 2.2
2002
 43,335,200 95,746 2.2
2003
 44,243,800 91,352 2.1

Source: Report to Congress: IRS Tax Compliance Activities, Internal
Revenue Service, July 15, 2003 (Tables 2-3). IRS Data Book, 2003.
Note that if correspondence audits were excluded rates would only be
slightly lower. For example, the face-to-face audit rate for businesses
would have been 2.1 in FY 2002 and 1.9 in FY 2003.

* Calendar year filings per IRS Master File for previous year.

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University
Copyright, 2004