Tax Help: IRS Data Book Details Taxes in FY 2020

Each year the IRS releases a book providing insight into IRS activities for the government’s fiscal year ending September 30. The 2020 Data Book covers October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2020 (IR-2021-134). It lists information about filing returns, refunds processed, installment agreements accepted, audit rates, and more. It highlighted IRS activities in response to COVID-19, including the delay of the April 15 filing deadline for 2019 returns to July 15, 2020.

The Data Book shows the number of returns filed (over 157 million individual income tax returns) and the audit rates based on “total positive income” (the sum of all positive amounts shown and not including losses). For the 2018 tax year, the following were the percentage of returns audited during the government’s 2020 fiscal year:

$1 to under $25,000	0.4%
$25,000 to under $50,000	0.2%
$50,000 to under $75,000	0.1%
$750,000 to under $100,000	0.1%
$100,000 to under $200,000	0.1%
$200,000 to under $500,000	0.1%
$500,000 to under $1,000,000	0.2%
$1,000,000 to under $5,000,000	0.6%
$5,000,000 to under $10,000,000	1.0%
$10,000,000 or more	5.3%
No positive income	2%

IRS Data Book Details Taxes in FY 2020

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