IRS: Challenges in High-Income/High-Wealth Audits

To address the decline in audit rates for the highest-income taxpayers, in February 2020, the Department of Treasury directed IRS to audit at least 8 percent of individuals with adjusted gross income of $10 million or more. GAO found that IRS is on track to meet the 8 percent audit rate goal for tax years 2018 to 2020. While IRS has increased the number of these audits, there are areas for improvement. GAO is making eight recommendations to improve IRS's efforts to audit high-income/high-wealth individuals, including taking steps to assess its research efforts, audit selection models, and auditor hiring and training.