The Internal Revenue Service stated on Friday that it will aggressively seek 1,600 millionaires and 75 major business partnerships that owe hundreds of millions of dollars in back taxes.
IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel stated that with more federal funds and the use of artificial intelligence techniques, the agency now has new methods of identifying wealthy individuals who have “cut corners” on their taxes.
IRS- AI Research Tools to Identify Tax Evaders
Werfel claims that a large hiring push and AI research tools built by IRS workers and contractors are helping to discover rich tax evaders.
The agency is attempting to highlight favorable outcomes from a surge of new spending during President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, even as Republicans in Congress want to claw back some of that money.
In July, IRS leadership announced that it had collected $38 million in back taxes from more than 175 high-income people in just a few months. Werfel stated that the agency will now increase its efforts in this area.
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IRS Collected Back Taxes From High-Income People
In July, IRS leadership announced that it had collected $38 million in back taxes from over 175 high-income people in just a few months. Werfel stated that the agency will now increase its efforts in this area.
In 2021, a team of university economists and IRS researchers discovered that the top 1% of income earners in the United States fail to declare more than 20% of their incomes to the IRS.
Grover Norquist, president of the conservative Americans for Tax Reform, stated that the IRS’ strategy to target high-income persons does not exclude the IRS from eventually targeting middle-income Americans for audits.
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