{"id":2029658,"date":"2023-09-12T17:39:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T21:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-casts-doubt-on-irs-pledge-not-to-audit-americans-earning-over-400000\/"},"modified":"2023-09-12T17:42:47","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T21:42:47","slug":"watchdog-casts-doubt-on-irs-pledge-not-to-audit-americans-earning-over-400000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-casts-doubt-on-irs-pledge-not-to-audit-americans-earning-over-400000\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchdog questions IRS promise to avoid auditing Americans making over $400,000."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatchdog-casts-doubt-on-irs-pledge-not-to-audit-americans-earning-over-400000%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2029658&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<p>A watchdog report has raised serious concerns about the \u200cInternal Revenue Service&#8217;s (IRS) ability to effectively target high-income tax evaders\u2062 while\u2062 avoiding increased \u2064audits on Americans earning \u200bover $400,000. The report reveals that the IRS still \u2063relies on an outdated $200,000 high-income threshold as its default.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2064Treasury Inspector General for Tax\u200d Administration (TIGTA), the watchdog overseeing the\u2063 IRS, \u2063recently conducted a review of the agency&#8217;s strategy for training employees hired specifically to audit high earners \u2064and big businesses that \u2064underreport income.<\/p>\n<p>This review comes \u2064after the IRS received an $80 billion funding boost, with concerns raised by Republicans that it would lead to increased audits on working-class Americans. However, \u2062Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen\u2063 assured that tax \u200baudit rates for individuals earning less than $400,000 would not exceed historical levels.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"border-comp-divider mb-4 mr-4 w-full max-w-[500px] border px-5 py-4 text-[16px] leading-[20px] text-[#262626] md:float-left\" id=\"in_article_related_stories\">\n<div class=\"mb-3 font-sans text-[16px] font-semibold uppercase leading-[19px] text-[#2F2F2F]\">Related Stories<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/irs-launches-sweeping-historic-tax-enforcement-crackdown-using-ai-5488547\">IRS Launches &#8216;Sweeping, Historic&#8217; Tax \u200dEnforcement Crackdown Using AI<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">9\/8\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/irs-launches-sweeping-historic-tax-enforcement-crackdown-using-ai-5488547\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/epochtv\/irs-issues-massive-warning-to-americans-regarding-ai-facts-matter-5489877\">IRS Issues Massive Warning to Americans Regarding AI | Facts Matter<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">9\/11\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/epochtv\/irs-issues-massive-warning-to-americans-regarding-ai-facts-matter-5489877\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>According to the watchdog&#8217;s report titled &#8220;The IRS Needs to Leverage \u2063the Most Effective Training\u200c for Revenue\u2064 Agents Examining High-Income Taxpayers,&#8221; the IRS should utilize the expertise of its Large Business and International (LB&#038;I) division to\u200b train newly hired revenue agents in auditing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/after-backlash-lawmakers-introduce-amendment-to-senate-infrastructure-bills-crypto-tax\/\" title=\"After Backlash, Lawmakers Introduce Amendment To Senate Infrastructure Bill\u2019s Crypto Tax\">high-income taxpayers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, beneath the seemingly innocuous title and \u2062recommendation lies a scathing critique of the IRS for lacking a clear\u2064 definition of\u2062 &#8220;high-income&#8221;\u2064 earners, despite the watchdog&#8217;s previous request \u2064for the IRS to \u200cdevelop one.<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode post-related-videos\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<h2>No \u2064Clear Definition of &#8216;High-Income&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>The watchdog report highlights that the IRS does not\u2064 have a unified or\u200d updated definition for individual \u200dhigh-income taxpayers. \u200dDifferent IRS programs use varying definitions\u200c of &#8220;high-income&#8221; depending on the context and compliance issues they address.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;The\u200d high-income terminology is\u200c being used loosely inside the IRS \u2063with no \u2063common understanding of \u200cwhat the term means,&#8221; states the \u2063watchdog report.<\/p>\n<p>One of the watchdog&#8217;s recommendations is for\u200d the IRS to establish a clear definition of high-income taxpayers\u200c for examination compliance purposes, with a minimum threshold of $400,000 as directed by the Treasury secretary.<\/p>\n<p>The IRS, however, disagrees with this recommendation, arguing\u200d that a \u2064rigid definition would\u200d hinder their\u2063 ability to address emerging issues and trends. The watchdog counters that income thresholds should \u2064be adjusted based on economic \u200cand complexity \u200dfactors to avoid audits\u2064 on lower-earning Americans and achieve \u2062desired audit coverage.<\/p>\n<p>The watchdog warns that without a \u2062clear definition of &#8220;high-income,&#8221; the IRS would not only conduct more audits on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-biden-policies-would-make-tax-system-more-progressive-while-cutting-economic-growth\/\" title=\"Report: Biden Policies Would Make Tax System \u2018More Progressive\u2019 While Cutting Economic Growth\">lower-income taxpayers<\/a> but also be \u200bless effective in \u2064closing the tax gap.<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times reached out to the IRS for comment, \u200bbut\u2063 the\u2062 agency referred \u2062to its original \u2062justification included in the report.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<h2>$200,000 Examination Code \u2062Threshold<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to the lack \u200bof a clear\u2063 definition, the watchdog criticizes the IRS for still relying on\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-casts-doubt-on-irs-pledge-not-to-audit-americans-earning-over-400000\/\" title=\"Watchdog questions IRS promise to avoid auditing Americans making over 0,000.\">outdated tax examination activity codes\u2062 established half<\/a> a century\u2062 ago. These codes use a $200,000 threshold to identify high-income returns, which is \u200dequivalent to over $1 million\u200c in 2023.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>While the IRS plans\u200c to utilize advanced technologies \u200clike data\u200d analytics and \u200cartificial intelligence to improve its understanding of high-income individuals&#8217; tax filings, the report raises concerns about\u200d the \u2062agency&#8217;s outdated practices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A watchdog report questions the IRS&#8217;s ability to target high-income tax evaders without increasing audits on Americans earning over $400,000. The report reveals that IRS enforcers still rely on an outdated $200,000 threshold for identifying high-income individuals, raising doubts about their effectiveness in enforcing tax laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":2029659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2029658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2029658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2029659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2029658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2029658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2029658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}