Levy, Levy, Levied: IRS Enforcement Is on the Increase

Commissioner of Internal Revenue Mark W. Everson issues statement, which reads "more tax Levy action"

On the eve of the mid point of the five-year appointment the Commissioner issued a statement showing the gains in enforcement activities:

• Enforcement Revenues up 10% to record 47.3 billion, up 4.3 billion..
• Individual Returns Audited 1.2 million up form 1 million.
• Audits of individual with income over $100k were over 221,000.
• Audits of small business corporations were 17,867 in 2005, up from only 7,294.
• Audits of large corporations (assets over 10 million) were up 14% to 10,878.
• Liens and levies now have recovered to pre RR98 levels
• For the full text of the release click here.

When I read between the lines and see the large increase in the enforcement revenue, I can’t help but speculate that the increase can be attributed to the Automated Levy Program and the automated Correspondence Audit Program. Small business audits were up by 10,000, admittedly an impressive amount. Large business audits were up by only 1300. These modest audit increases simply can not account for a 4.3 billion dollar increase in enforcement revenues. So what can it be attributed too? Automated Collection System computer generated levies. In 2000 there were fewer than 220,000 levies. In 2004 there were over 2,000,000. Now that is an increase of almost 1000% in just 5 years. From 2003 to 2004 there was a 21% increase in the number of levies. For taxpayers trying to avoid tax levy, bank levy, IRS wage levy or IRS wage garnishment, things are getting a little more difficult. Now, if Commissioner Everson will only loosen up the offer in compromise program, he can collect even more money, and more taxpayers will be able to settle their IRS tax debt through offer in compromise.

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