The Internal Revenue Service released its enforcement results for fiscal year 2005.
IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson, noting that he is at the mid-point of his five-year term heading up the agency, said that the IRS is continuing to work towards three goals -- better serving the taxpayers, continuing modernization and enhancing enforcement activities.
For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, Everson said that enforcement revenues, the funds being received from the IRS collection, examination and document matching activities, are up by 10 percent, to a record $47.3 billion. He also said that individual returns audited increased by over 20 percent, to 1.2 million in 2004. Audits of individuals with incomes over $100,000 also surpassed 221,000 -- the highest figure in 10 years, though Everson said that the coverage rate in this category, at 1.58 percent, is still too low.
Everson also noted that in the past year:
- Audits of small businesses organized as corporations turned up after years of decline. 17,867 were completed in 2005, compared to 7,294 a year earlier;
- Audits of larger corporations, those with assets over $10 million, also increased, up 14 percent from a year ago, to 10,878;
- For the first time, over half of all individual returns were filed electronically; and,
- The agency's toll-free tax law accuracy hit a high of 89 percent, and customer satisfaction with the IRS's toll-free service was a record 95 percent.
