IRS Audit Numbers Continue to Decline
Category Number of Audits Change (%)
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
All Individuals District Audits 797,485 761,850 715,615 567,759 384,484 251,108 -68.5
Service Center 1,121,952 1,179,696 803,628 625,021 715,789 *366,657 -67.3
Total Audits 1,919,437 1,941,546 1,519,243 1,192,780 1,100,273 *617,765 -67.8
--- less than $100,000 TPI District Audits 684,395 625,430 571,201 443,220 289,725 187,891 -72.5
Service Center 1,055,171 1,106,084 747,972 585,246 682,150 330,327 -68.7
Total Audits 1,739,566 1,731,514 1,319,173 1,028,466 971,875 518,218 -70.2
--- $100,000 or more TPI District Audits 113,090 136,420 144,414 124,539 94,759 63,217 -44.1
Service Center 66,781 73,612 55,656 39,775 33,639 36,330 -45.6
Total Audits 179,871 210,032 200,070 164,314 128,398 99,547 -44.7
All Corporations District Audits 49,177 57,677 67,727 52,199 37,771 26,558 -46.0
Service Center 2,206 1,782 1,568 1,449 1,034 1,277 -42.1
Total Audits 51,383 59,459 69,295 53,648 38,805 27,835 -45.8
--- less than $100 million assets District Audits 36,803 45,091 55,021 40,735 27,484 17,580 -52.2
Service Center 1,900 1,477 1,302 1,083 784 1,043 -45.1
Total Audits 38,703 46,568 56,323 41,818 28,268 18,623 -51.9
--- $100 million or more assets District Audits 12,374 12,586 12,706 11,464 10,287 8,978 -27.4
Service Center 306 305 266 366 250 234 -23.5
Total Audits 12,680 12,891 12,972 11,830 10,537 9,212 -27.4

* Out of the total of 617,765 IRS audits, forty-four percent or 271,632 focused exclusively on the earned income tax credit (EITC). Most if not all of these EITC audits were conducted through notices sent out by IRS Service Centers. EITC is a special credit for low income taxpayers. As a result of the large number of EITC audits, taxpayers earning under $25,000 were audited at higher rates than taxpayers generally. One out of every 159 low income returns, or 0.63%, were subject to IRS audits as compared with 1 out of every 202 returns, or 0.49%, for taxpayers overall. 

Note:  TPI = Total Positive Income.  These figures include IRS audits conducted of taxpayers abroad.

Copyright 2001, TRAC Reports, Inc.