IRS ups audits of millionaires
12% of taxpayers making $1 million or more were audited last year, up from 6% in 2009. Among those making less than $200,000, the audit rate stayed near 1%.
This post is by Alan Fram of The Associated Press.
If you earn less than $200,000 a year, there's a strong chance you don't have to worry about an Internal Revenue Service audit. But if you make more than $1 million annually, the odds have been rising that you'll be hearing from the tax man.
New IRS figures show that 12% of millionaire earners were audited last year. That's up from 8% in 2010 and 6% in 2009.
The data shows that for those making under $200,000, the rate has stayed steady at around 1% in recent years.
IRS officials said the growing audit rate for high earners is aimed at demonstrating that the tax code is being enforced fairly and is unrelated to President Barack Obama's recent proposals to boost taxes on the rich. The White House and congressional Democrats are expected to continue taking similar populist stances with the approach of this November's presidential and congressional elections.
Steven Miller, deputy IRS commissioner for services and enforcement, said in an interview that the higher audit rates for the highest earning individuals are designed to "assure that those at the lower end of the spectrum know that those at the higher end of the spectrum are subject to the same rules and enforcement as everyone else."
"We base our audit decisions on tax issues, nothing else," said IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge. "We don't play politics here."
Four percent of individuals earning $200,000 and up were audited in 2011, up from around 3% the previous five years.
The IRS provided data for only three categories of individuals' income: those earning under $200,000 annually, those making $200,000 and up and those earning $1 million and up.
Overall, the agency says, it audited nearly 1.6 million of 141 million individual returns in 2011, or just over 1%. That rate has been growing gradually and is almost double the 0.6% audited in 2001, the IRS said.
Only about a quarter of IRS audits involve dreaded meetings between taxpayers and agency officials. The rest are carried out using letters.
In 2010 -- the most recent year available -- more than 80% of those audited ended up paying additional taxes.
Altogether, IRS enforcement efforts -- including audits, legal action and other tactics -- resulted in an extra $55 billion being collected. That's down almost $3 billion from 2010, which Miller blamed on a falloff in estate taxes and corporations writing off their losses.
That $55 billion was a small part of the $2.3 trillion the agency collected in revenue last year.
The IRS also audited a greater proportion of large corporations than smaller ones, the data shows.
Last year, 1% of corporations with assets under $10 million were audited. Among corporations with assets of $250 million and up, 28% were audited.
The IRS figures also showed that:
- In 2011, the agency garnisheed wages or seized money from bank accounts 3.7 million times, put liens on property 1 million times and seized 776 pieces of property.
- 77% of individual returns were filed electronically last year, up from 69% in 2010.
- 70% of callers to IRS taxpayer information telephone lines got through, slightly less than the 74% who reached someone in 2010. Miller attributed that to budget cuts to the agency.
- The information IRS officials dispensed over the phone to taxpayers was accurate 93% of the time, the same as the previous year.
- The IRS website was visited 319 million times in 2011, a slight increase.
The data was presented by federal fiscal years, which begin on the previous Oct. 1.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Gee, if it is only the rich that cheat on their taxes, then why did the IRS start requiring receipts for church donations, cash donations to the Salvation Army Bucket at Christmas, donations of clothes, cars etc to charities? The rich do not use these things to skirt taxes.....it was the so called "middle class". Cheating on taxes is not an effort reserved for the "rich". It crosses all of the socio-economic classes.
Everyone who pays taxes attempts to pay as little as possible. I laugh when my liberal brother who feels everyone should pay more tax works so hard to minimize his tax burden, or another I know who lied about the income she received working overseas. A "classic liberal", but thought she should not have to pay taxes. This is the problem with virtually all Americans.
They think all should be be taxed to death, just not themselves.
The real problem is government spends too much, way too much. You can tax people 100% of their earnings and the government will still print, borrow, and spend 150%. I am not anti-government, but the government is so out of control in its spending that I do not think we will last much longer without financial disaster at best and collapse at the worst.
For those of you that think government is the solution to everything I can only tell you that it is not. Government was meant to be limited in scope, and power, but now it has no bounds. Obama-care, if it is not rescinded will be the last nail in the coffin since the government will be then be able to tell you what to buy, make you buy it (probably from a government run entity), and tax you on the purchase of it as well. It is so far gone now I doubt we can change it because 47% (Communist Party types) pay NO TAXES and yet can vote that the 53% that do pay taxes must pay more. Talk about paying a "fair share" how about those that pay nothing be forced to pay something. And, yes, make the rich pay more as well, but if you think making the rich pay more will make government SPEND less you live in a fantasy world.
It is very apparent that the 47% that pay NO TAX are giving a thumbs down on anyone that posts anything about government be more responsible and accountable. I do not need the government to educate me, I can do that myself and did. I do not need government to FORCE me to buy anything, I can do that myself also. I do not actually need government for much other than a few valid things and am willing to be taxed for those services. But now government taxes those that work to "provide" those services to the 47% that PAY NOTHING and those who PAY NOTHING are still not satisfied. All those that PAY NOTHING will say is that the government does this and that, and that and this and we MUST have those services but then they hypocritically PAY NOTHING THEMSELVES for those services while DEMANDING others MUST!!!
No wonder this nation is going down the toilet fast.
ewent - you are apparently an idiot and willingly prove it with your posts. All you have to is do an Internet Search on the subject. But since you appear unable to actually put forth effort to educate yourself here is an article from the New York Times for you to read, if you can read and comprehend it. Located at
nytimes.com/2010/04/14/business/economy/14leonhardt.html
And as I stated before....tax the rich....absolutely... but SPENDING by government that is OUT OF CONTROL is the real problem. You cannot keep SPENDING what you DO NOT HAVE by printing it, borrowing it and then kicking the DEBT onto the younger or next generation.
Steven Miller, deputy IRS commissioner for services and enforcement, said in an interview that the higher audit rates for the highest earning individuals are designed to "assure that those at the lower end of the spectrum know that those at the higher end of the spectrum are subject to the same rules and enforcement as everyone else."
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Yeah, sure. Then why aren't they equally subject to audit? Of course, the IRS is discriminating. "Discriminating" was a poitive attribute until the political correctness crowd perverted it.
Discrimination is a no-brainer here. When you want to raise money, you go where the money is. Unless there is outright fraud going on, they can't hope to net much from auditing those of modest means.
Some people are just plain jealous, covetous, and envious of others that have educated themselves, worked hard, taken risks and succeeded. Not everyone that even does these things will succeed. For all you Socialist, Communist, Marxist, Leninist types I want to tell you that you cannnot redistribute WEALTH, only money. You cannot redistribute a work ethic, a desire to overcome obstacles, a willingness and determination to keep on striving and be vigilant. You cannot redistribute character, morals, convictions and belief that makes you work to have a better life, period. And yes, it is up to those that do succeed to help those that do not, BUT it is to be the person's CHOICE TO GIVE and NOT the government's decision NOR YOURS to FORCE them to do so.
ewent - people like you are the real problem. You want what others have and hate them for having it, and so you want government to steal it from them so you can have it. ewent, it is people like you that are the real problem and not the "rich".
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