IRS: Tax Gap Widens to $450 Billion

IR-2012-4 (Jan. 6, 2012), IRS Releases New Tax Gap Estimates; Compliance Rates Remain Statistically Unchanged From Previous Study:

The IRS today released a new set of tax gap estimates for tax year 2006. ... The new tax gap estimate represents the first full update of the report in five years, and it shows the nation’s compliance rate is essentially unchanged from the last review covering tax year 2001. .... The following table summarizes the new estimates being released today, as compared to the 2001 estimates, along with the total tax liabilities in each year.

	Tax Year 2001 (billions)	Tax Year 2006 (billions)
Total Tax Liabilities	$2,112	$2,660
Gross Tax Gap	$345 (83.7% compliance)	$450 (83.1% compliance)
Enforcement and Late Payments	$55	$65
Net Tax Gap	$290 (86.3% compliance)	$385 (85.5% compliance)

Related Items:

• The Tax Gap
• Tax Gap Map 2006 
• Overview Tax Gap for Tax Year 2006
• Summary of Methods Tax Gap
• FS-2012-6, IRS Releases 2006 Tax Gap Estimates

Press and blogosphere coverage:

• Accounting Today
• Bloomberg
• Forbes
• The Hill
• Wall Street Journal
• Washington Post