TREASURY
INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR TAX ADMINISTRATION
Trends
in Compliance Activities Through Fiscal Year 2007
April 18, 2008
Reference Number: 2008-30-095
This report has cleared the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration disclosure review process and information determined to be restricted from public release has been redacted from this document.
Phone Number |
202-622-6500
Email Address | inquiries@tigta.treas.gov
Web Site |
http://www.tigta.gov
April 18, 2008
MEMORANDUM FOR DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR SERVICES AND ENFORCEMENT
FROM: Michael R. Phillips /s/ Michael R. Phillips
Deputy Inspector General for Audit
SUBJECT: Final Audit Report – Trends in Compliance Activities Through Fiscal Year 2007 (Audit # 200830016)
This report presents the results of our review of statistical information reflecting collection and examination activities within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The overall objective of this review was to provide statistical information and trend analyses of the data, as requested by the IRS Oversight Board.[1]
Impact on the Taxpayer
This report is a compilation of statistical information reported by the IRS. We did not verify or validate the authenticity or reliability of the data and, therefore, did not identify any specific impact on the taxpayer. However, continued effort to improve compliance is important to reducing the tax gap and maintaining the integrity of the voluntary tax compliance system.
Synopsis
Since Fiscal Year (FY) 2000, the IRS has reversed many of the downward trends in compliance activities that had occurred in prior years. In FY 2007, many of these activities continued to increase, even though Collection and Examination function field staffing decreased slightly. Both the Collection and Examination functions plan to hire enforcement personnel during FY 2008.
Some of the positive changes noted in this report might be attributable to management emphasis on the Collection and Examination functions’ programs. Over the last few years, the Small Business/Self-Employed Division has implemented reengineering and organizational changes that could have had a positive impact on enforcement efforts. In addition, both functions continue to study ways to improve workload selection.
As our report points out, the IRS has reversed many of the enforcement declines in both the Collection and Examination functions. Although the IRS has taken significant actions to improve its enforcement efforts, the Government Accountability Office continued to include enforcement of tax laws (collection of unpaid taxes and Earned Income Tax Credit noncompliance) as one of the high‑risk areas in the Federal Government in its most recent (January 2007) update.[2]
In FY 2007, the level of compliance activities and the results obtained in many Collection function areas showed a continued increase. The uses of liens and levies (collection enforcement tools) continued to increase and reached the 10‑year highs. The use of seizures also increased but is unlikely to return to pre‑1998 levels in the foreseeable future. Enforcement revenue collected also continued to increase (to $59.2 billion), but the total dollar amount of uncollected liabilities increased to the 10‑year high of $290 billion. In addition, the gap between new delinquent account receipts and closures had widened by almost 63 percent by the end of FY 2007.
The Collection
function collected almost 3 percent more than in FY 2006, but the
number of taxpayers (866,777) and the amount owed ($34.9 billion) on accounts
in the Queue were each at a 10‑year high.
One reason for the increase in the Queue this year is a rise in the
number of compliance assessments. While
the Queue is a source of work for Collection function employees, a significant number
of accounts in the Queue might never be worked.
In addition, in FYs 2001 through 2007, the IRS removed almost 7.6 million
accounts with balance-due amounts totaling almost $31.2 billion from
Collection function inventory. These
accounts might never be worked.
In September 2006,
the IRS started assigning balance-due cases that otherwise would not have been
worked to private collection agencies. Through
FY 2007, the IRS had received a total of $26.6 million after expected
commissions on cases assigned to the collection agencies, and program costs
totaled $69.8 million. More than 96 percent
of the total revenue collected by the agencies was received during FY 2007
alone. The program netted
$11.3 million after subtraction of expected commissions and program costs
for the year. However, continued use of
private collection agencies is uncertain because some members of Congress want
the IRS to discontinue their use.
During FY 2007, the overall percentage of tax returns examined increased by almost 9 percent, even though the number of field Examination function personnel decreased by just over 4 percent. In addition, the overall percentage of tax returns examined was 2 percent higher than in FY 1998.
Overall, the number of individual tax returns examined increased during FY 2007.[3] Correspondence examinations accounted for 83 percent of the examinations of individuals.[4] Because correspondence examinations are usually not as comprehensive as face-to-face examinations, the impact on compliance might be limited. In addition, the dollar yield per hour increased for individual income tax return examinations conducted by revenue agents and tax compliance officers.
In FY 2007, the number of corporate tax returns examined increased by just over 4 percent, after decreasing 1 percent in FY 2006. However, the number of corporate returns examined has decreased almost 45 percent since FY 1998. The total number examined decreased from 1 of 48 returns filed in FY 1998 to 1 of 75 returns filed in FY 2007. The number of tax returns examined for small corporations (those with assets of less than $10 million) increased by slightly more than 12 percent, while the number of returns examined for large corporations (those with assets of $10 million and greater) decreased by almost 9 percent. The dollar yield per hour decreased by 36 percent in FY 2007.
Continued effort to improve compliance is important to reducing the tax gap and maintaining the integrity of the voluntary tax compliance system. According to a tax gap strategy document dated September 2006, the tax gap for Tax Year 2001 was $345 billion.[5] The strategy document provides a broad base on which to build future efforts to address the tax gap but depends on future budgets to provide detailed strategy elements. In August 2007, the IRS released a report that builds on the strategy by providing details about actions planned to reduce the tax gap.[6] However, many of the actions will require the assistance of Congress.
Recommendation
We made no recommendations in this report. However, key IRS management officials reviewed the report prior to issuance and agreed with the facts and conclusions.
Copies of
this report are also being sent to the IRS managers affected by the report
information. Please contact me at (202)
622-6510 if you have questions or Margaret E. Begg,
Acting Assistant Inspector General for Audit (Small
Business and Corporate Programs), at (202) 622‑8510.
Overall,
Compliance Activities Increased and Results Improved
Collection
Function Compliance Activities Increased and Results Improved
Examination
Function Compliance Activities Increased and Results Improved
Appendices
Appendix
I – Detailed Objective, Scope, and Methodology
Appendix
II – Major Contributors to This Report
Appendix
III – Report Distribution List
Appendix
IV – Glossary of Terms
Appendix V
– Detailed Charts of Statistical Information
Appendix VI
– Prior Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Compliance Trends
Reports
Abbreviations
|
ACS |
Automated Collection System |
|
CFf |
Collection Field function |
|
FY |
Fiscal Year |
|
IRS |
Internal Revenue Service |
|
SCCB |
|
|
TDA |
Taxpayer Delinquent Account |
|
TDI |
Taxpayer Delinquency Investigation |
|
TIGTA |
Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration |
We initiated this review of nationwide compliance statistics
for examination and collection activities due to an ongoing request of the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Oversight Board.
Our data analyses were performed in the Treasury Inspector General for
Tax Administration (TIGTA)
Detailed information on our objective, scope, and methodology is presented in Appendix I. Major contributors to the report are listed in Appendix II. A Glossary of Terms is included in Appendix IV. Detailed charts and tables referred to in the body of this report are included in Appendix V. We eliminated some charts for examinations of individual taxpayers this year because the IRS Examination function changed the way in which it categorizes individual tax returns. We added charts showing statistics for efforts to secure delinquent tax returns from taxpayers.
Most of the calculations throughout the report and Appendix V are affected by rounding. All initial calculations were performed using the actual numbers rather than the rounded numbers that appear in the report. Much of the data included in this report update prior TIGTA reports on compliance trends. Appendix VI presents a list of those reports.
Overall, many compliance activities increased and results improved during Fiscal Year (FY) 2007. Since FY 2000, the IRS has reversed numerous downward trends in compliance activities that occurred in prior years. In FY 2007, many of these activities continued to increase, while others fell slightly from the prior year.
Although the IRS has reversed many of the downward trends in compliance activities, the enforcement staff levels in the Collection and Examination functions are not significantly higher than the 10‑year lows experienced in FY 2003. The combined number of Collection function and Examination function enforcement personnel[7] declined by 23 percent, from approximately 19,500 at the beginning of FY 1998 to 15,000 at the end of FY 2007. After increasing by 8 percent during FY 2006, staffing decreased by 4 percent this year. The Small Business/Self-Employed Division FY 2008 Hiring Plan includes authorized hiring of nearly 1,000 revenue agents, tax compliance officers, and revenue officers. The Collection and Examination Enforcement budget was flat for FYs 2006 through 2008. However, the President’s Budget Proposal for FY 2009 includes an 8 percent increase for that budget account.
For some time, the total number of tax returns filed and the total dollars the IRS received (gross collections) have increased. In the past 10 years, the total number of tax returns filed grew by almost 12 percent, from about 161 million in Calendar Year 1997 to more than 179 million in Calendar Year 2006. IRS gross collections grew from $1.77 trillion in FY 1998 to $2.13 trillion in FY 2001, then fell a total of slightly more than 8 percent during FYs 2002 and 2003 to $1.95 trillion. These were the first decreases in total revenue since FY 1983. However, since FY 2003, gross collections have increased by almost 38 percent and reached a new record high of $2.69 trillion in FY 2007.[8]
After remaining relatively constant for FYs 1999
through 2002, the amount of enforcement revenue collected increased by almost
74 percent in the last 5 years. During
FY 2007, enforcement revenue collected increased by 22 percent to $59.2
billion.[9] This amount (not adjusted for inflation) is 68 percent
higher than the FY 1998 amount.[10]
As our report points out, the IRS has reversed many of the enforcement declines in both the Collection and Examination functions. However, despite work the IRS is doing to improve its enforcement efforts, the Government Accountability Office continued to include enforcement of tax laws (collection of unpaid taxes and Earned Income Tax Credit noncompliance) as 1 of the 26 high-risk areas in the Federal Government in its most recent (January 2007) update.[11] The Government Accountability Office states that improvements in compliance with tax laws will require efforts by the IRS and Congress.
Continued effort to improve compliance is important to reducing the tax gap and maintaining the integrity of the voluntary tax compliance system. According to a tax gap strategy document dated September 2006, the tax gap for Tax Year 2001 was $345 billion, representing a compliance rate of about 84 percent.[12] The purpose of the strategy document was to provide a broad base on which to build future efforts to address the tax gap. In August 2007, the IRS released a report that builds on the strategy by providing details about actions planned to reduce the tax gap.[13]
The IRS’ current strategy for reducing the tax gap is largely dependent on receipt of funding for additional compliance resources and legislative changes. Therefore, long‑term success will in large part be dependent on reducing risk factors, some of which are beyond the control of the IRS. One proposal–to add information reporting requirements–is a proven method for increasing compliance. However, outside stakeholder groups have expressed concern about the increased burden of additional information reporting requirements. However, 61 percent of taxpayers surveyed cited information reporting as a factor for reporting and paying taxes honestly.[14]
Collection Function Compliance Activities
Increased and Results Improved
The number of Collection Field function (CFf) revenue officer personnel working assigned delinquent cases decreased 4 percent (to 3,724) by the end of FY 2007.[15] However, since the start of FY 1998, revenue officer staffing has decreased by almost 32 percent.
Although revenue officer staffing is down, many compliance activities continued to increase and results improved during FY 2007. Some of the improvements in Collection function activities that have occurred over the last few years could be the result of an FY 2005 organizational change in the Small Business/Self-Employed Division and efforts to improve business processes. However, the results of some activities were not positive.
Many Collection function operations showed improvement
The following activities showed positive results for the Collection function during FY 2007:
Figure 1:
Use of Collection Enforcement Tools
|
|
Liens |
Levies |
Seizures |
|
FY
1998 |
382,755 |
2,503,409 |
2,259 |
|
FY
1999 |
167,867 |
504,403 |
161 |
|
FY
2000 |
287,517 |
219,778 |
74 |
|
FY
2001 |
426,165 |
674,080 |
234 |
|
FY
2002 |
482,509 |
1,283,742 |
296 |
|
FY
2003 |
544,316 |
1,680,844 |
399 |
|
FY
2004 |
534,392 |
2,029,613 |
440 |
|
FY
2005 |
522,887 |
2,743,577 |
512 |
|
FY
2006 |
629,813 |
3,742,276 |
590 |
|
FY
2007 |
683,659 |
3,757,190 |
676 |
Source: Small Business/Self-Employed Division Collection
Planning and Analysis, Collection National Reports, and IRS Data Book.