|
|
IRS Audits of Individual Income Tax Returns
(includes Commpliance or Service Center (SC) and District Audits)
|
|
|
|
(includes Commpliance or Service Center (SC) and District Audits)
| Fiscal Year | Returns Filed* | Total District Audits | SC Audits (old definition) | Total Audited (old definition) | Percent Audited (old definition) | SC Audits (new definition) | Total Audited (new definition) | Percent Audited (new definition) |
| 1981 | 93,052,000 | 1,482,586 | 161,518 | 1,644,104 | 1.77 | 975,541 | 2,458,127 |
2.64
|
| 1982 | 94,013,000 | 1,352,063 | 103,173 | 1,455,236 | 1.55 | 819,366 | 2,171,429 |
2.30
|
| 1983 | 95,419,000 | 1,279,810 | 147,850 | 1,427,660 | 1.5 | 1,078,066 | 2,357,876 |
2.47
|
| 1984 | 95,541,300 | 1,135,533 | 80,394 | 1,215,927 | 1.27 | 761,126 | 1,896,659 |
1.99
|
| 1985 | 96,496,900 | 1,143,517 | 122,075 | 1,265,592 | 1.31 | 680,951 | 1,824,468 |
1.89
|
| 1986 | 99,529,000 | 1,031,399 | 59,550 | 1,090,949 | 1.1 | 643,578 | 1,674,977 |
1.68
|
| 1987 | 101,750,800 | 927,964 | 181,251 | 1,109,215 | 1.09 | 684,560 | 1,612,524 |
1.58
|
| 1988 | 103,251,000 | 885,134 | 175,682 | 1,060,816 | 1.03 | 735,534 | 1,620,668 |
1.57
|
| 1989 | 107,029,000 | 785,647 | 198,971 | 984,618 | 0.92 | 599,348 | 1,384,995 |
1.29
|
| 1990 | 109,868,400 | 719,319 | 163,181 | 882,500 | 0.8 | 425,641 | 1,144,960 |
1.04
|
| 1991 | 112,304,900 | 700,621 | 612,547 | 1,313,168 |
1.17
|
|||
| 1992 | 113,829,200 | 746,806 | 459,213 | 1,205,919 |
1.06
|
|||
| 1993 | 114,718,900 | 756,251 | 302,715 | 1,058,966 |
0.92
|
|||
| 1994 | 113,754,400 | 820,232 | 405,475 | 1,225,707 |
1.08
|
|||
| 1995 | 114,683,400 | 797,485 | 1,121,952 | 1,919,437 |
1.67
|
|||
| 1996 | 116,059,700 | 761,850 | 1,179,696 | 1,941,546 |
1.67
|
|||
| 1997 | 118,362,600 | 715,615 | 803,628 | 1,519,243 |
1.28
|
|||
| 1998 | 120,342,400 | 551,420 (**567,759) |
625,021 | 1,192,780 |
0.99
|
|||
| 1999 | 121,829,470 | 383,467 | 715,789 | 1,099,256 |
0.90
|
|||
| 2000 | 124,887,140 | 251,108 | 366,657 | 617,765 | 0.49 | |||
| 2001 | 127,097,210 | 202,501 | 529,241 | 731,742 |
0.58
|
|||
| 2002 | 129,444,947 | 205,134 | 538,747 | 743,881 |
0.57
| |||
| 2003 | 130,341,159 | 206,457 | 642,839 | 849,296 |
0.65
|
|||
| 2004 | 130,134,277 | 197,388 | 810,486 | 1,007,874 |
0.77
|
Source: Internal Revenue Service. Note: Includes
audits conducted under the Assistant Commissioner (International) outside the
jurisdiction of regular IRS district offices. From
2000.
* Returns filed during previous calendar year.
**Until recently, IRS audits emphasized "face-to-face" district office contacts. In 1994 IRS changed its definition of what it counts as an "audit," and recalculated its audit numbers using this new definition back to 1988. IRS estimates from 1981-1988 include all types of returns corrected, although majority are individual returns. It now counts all contacts of taxpayers by correspondence by tax examiners from its Service (Compliance) Centers as audits. These are typically generated by computer matching of returns with third-party information to spot potential discrepancies. In examining audit rates, it is thus very important to recognize that an "audit" means something very different today then it did a few years ago.