Number: RL33882
Title: Tax Gap and Tax Enforcement
Authors: James M. Bickley, Government and Finance Division 
Abstract: Recent and projected large federal budget deficits have generated congressional interest in the feasibility of raising revenue by reducing the tax gap. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) defines the gross tax gap as "the difference between the aggregate tax liability imposed by law for a given tax year and the amount of tax that taxpayers pay voluntarily and timely for that year." "The net gap is the amount of the gross tax gap that remains unpaid after all enforced and other late payments are made for the tax year." For tax (calendar) year 2001, the IRS estimates a gross tax gap of $345 billion, equal to a noncompliance rate of 16.3%. For the same tax year, IRS enforcement activities, coupled with other late payments, recovered about $55 billion of the gross tax gap, resulting in an estimated net tax gap of $290 billion.
Pages: 19
Date: November 10, 2008