IRS reports increase in audits, enforcement revenue

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A taxpayer who made more than 1 million had a one-in-16 chance of being audited by the IRS in the fiscal year just ended, up slightly from the year before.
Commissioner Mark Everson said in a telephone news conference Monday that the Internal Revenue Service also paid more attention to the filings of small businesses that tend to underreport incomes and to the records of tax-exempt organizations.
Overall, enforcement revenues for fiscal 2006 were 48.7 billion, up 3 percent from 47.3 billion. Revenues in fiscal 2005 had jumped 10 percent because of collections from a crackdown on improper tax shelters.
"We have restored the credibility of our enforcement programs, which were badly diminished and to some degree gutted" in the 1990s, Everson said.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.