IRS Targets Millionaires for More Audits

IRS targets millionaires for more audits Audits on those who fell into the nation’s top tax bracket climbed 73 percent in 2010, and affected more than 18 percent of all those consumers, according to a report from CNN Money. Similarly, taxpayers who make between $5 million and $10 million saw audits increase 54 percent, and closer looks at the filings affected about 12 percent of all these consumers.

“There’s always been this public perception that the rich are getting away with murder and the poor guy is left footing the bill,” Thomas Cooke, professor of accounting and business law at Georgetown University, told the newspapers. “It’s true that historically the low income earner was more likely to be subject to an examination than a high income earner, but now the higher income taxpayer is getting the greater focus.”

Even taxpayers whose income was over $1 million saw audits rise 15 percent last year, the report said. All these changes have come largely because the IRS is looking for ways to increase revenues and also make average consumers feel better about the way it hands out audits.

Many consumers with hefty incomes may receive more tax breaks than others, or have access to financial experts who can show them how to boost their deductions.