The Tax Times: IRS Releases Trends in Compliance Activities Through Fiscal Year 2023

Monday, July 28, 2025

IRS Releases Trends in Compliance Activities Through Fiscal Year 2023

Why did the IRS do this audit?

This report is a compilation of statistical information reported by the IRS. The data presented in this report provide taxpayers and stakeholders with information about how the IRS focuses its compliance resources and the impact of those resources on revenue and compliance over time.

What did the IRS find?

During Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, taxpayers filed more than 163 million individual and 13 million business income tax returns. Filings for all types of tax returns resulted in approximately $4.7 trillion of total tax revenue collected during FY 2023, about $207 billion less than FY 2022.

Gross Collections by Type of Tax for FYs 2020 Through 2023

Gross tax collections by the IRS

In FY 2023, $10.1 billion in enforcement revenue was collected by the Automated Collection System, resulting in an average of $3.1 million collected by each Automated Collection System employee. Additionally, Field Collection collected a total of $5.9 billion, resulting in an average of about $2.9 million collected by each Field Collection employee.

The total proposed additional tax after examinations increased from about $12.9 billion in FY 2020 to $31.9 billion in FY 2023. High-income taxpayer and partnerships audits steadily increased from FY 2020 to FY 2023, but large corporation audits decreased due to the IRS’s focus on partnerships and high-income individuals. In FY 2023, the Field Examination function proposed $24.1 billion in additional tax after examination, resulting in an average of about $3.4 million in proposed adjustments by each field examination employee. A total of $7.8 billion in additional tax after examination was proposed by Correspondence examinations, resulting in an average of $2.6 million in proposed adjustments by each correspondence examination employee.

With IRA funding, the IRS began plans to increase its enforcement workforce. While the total Field Collection, Campus Collection, and Examination staff decreased from 18,472 employees in FY 2020 to 17,475 in FY 2023 due to attrition, the IRS hired 4,048 revenue officers and revenue agents in FY 2024.

However, in January 2025, a Presidential Memorandum implemented a hiring freeze and subsequently commenced early retirement initiatives for federal employees. In February 2025, the IRS began reductions in force and reorganization plans as part of a federal-wide effort to shrink government.

Although the IRS made substantial progress with its hiring goals in FY 2024, the rescissions of funds, hiring freeze, and future reductions in force will present a challenge to enforcing the nation’s tax laws.

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