USA: The number of Internal Revenue Service audits is set to spike in the coming years as the tax agency takes aim at specific groups.
In a statement, the IRS said it is planning more audit focus on the wealthiest taxpayers, large corporations and partnerships. The work is part of the agency’s overhaul backed by some $80 billion in new funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022 by President Joe Biden.
The agency won’t increase the number of audits for small businesses and taxpayers making less than $400,000, rates the IRS said “remain at historically low levels.” Instead, high earners and complex business partnerships will face additional scrutiny.
“There is no new wave of audits coming from middle- and low-income (individuals,) coming from mom and pops. That’s not in our plans,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said, according to CBS News. “(The plan) sets an important tone and message for complex filers, high-wealth filers, that this is our focus area,” he said.
Those groups include:
– Large corporates with assets more than $250 million will see audit rates nearly triple. In 2019, just under 9% of these corporations were audited; by 2026, the IRS has a goal of 23%.
– The IRS will increase audit rates by nearly 10-fold on large, complex partnerships with assets over $10 million, going from 0.1% in 2019 to 1% in tax year 2026.
– Audit rates will increase by more than 50% on individual taxpayers with total positive income over $10 million, with audit rates going from an 11% coverage rate in 2019 to 17% in tax year 2026.
