CBS News
Many taxpayers fear getting audited by the IRS. Here are the odds based on your income.
IRS Audits help the agency collect money that tax cheats owe the federal government, but experts say they also serve another important purpose: They help deter fraud.
That can cause some serious agita, of course. The IRS says about 6 in 10 taxpayers cite the anxiety of getting audited as a motive for being honest on their taxes.
Meanwhile, the IRS has vowed to increase audits on taxpayers with annual income over $400,000 as a way to raise revenue and crack down on tax dodgers, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. After the 2022 law was passed, roughly a quarter of voters expressed concern about getting hit with an audit, according to Morning Consult research.
So what are the odds of getting audited? Very low. Only 0.2% of all individual income tax returns filed for the 2020 tax year faced an audit, according to the most recent data available from the IRS. That means about 1 in 500 tax returns are audited each year.
To be sure, some people face higher audit risks than others, and one of them might surprise you. The taxpayers most likely to be audited are those with annual incomes exceeding $10 million — about 2.4% of those returns were audited in 2020. But the second most likely group to get audited are low- and moderate-income taxpayers who claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC.
Why can the EITC trigger an audit?
The higher audit rate for people who claim the EITC has sparked criticism from policy experts. The Bipartisan Policy Center notes that these examinations tend to disproportionately fall on people of color, partly because they are more likely to qualify for the tax credit.
People can claim different amounts through the EITC based on their income and their number of dependent children. For instance, a married couple filing jointly with three kids and less than $63,398 in income can claim the maximum EITC amount, at $7,430. But the most a single taxpayer with no kids can claim is $600.
EITC returns can get flagged if the IRS’ records show the taxpayer doesn’t qualify for all or some of the credit, such as claiming a child who isn’t actually eligible (which can happen if they’re over 19 and not a full-time student). About 8 in 10 audited returns that claimed the EITC had either incorrectly claimed a child or misreported income, the National Taxpayer Advocate noted in a 2022 report.
Still, these audits are slightly different than the kind a wealthier taxpayer would typically face. The IRS relies on so-called “correspondence audits” to handle EITC issues, which are handled via letters and phone calls, rather than in-person visits from an IRS agent, or how audits are handled with high-income taxpayers.
Are taxpayers more or less likely to get audited these days?
Quite the opposite. In fact, the audit rate has been declining for years, according to IRS data.
For instance, the agency in 2014 audited about 9.4% of all tax returns for people earning more than $10 million a year — that’s almost four times the present audit rate, IRS data shows.
Middle-class taxpayers are also much less likely to get audited today. IRS figures show that the audit rate for people with annual income of $50,000 to $75,000 was 0.4% in 2014 — also four times higher than the current audit rate.
The reason, the IRS says, is partly due to its shrinking workforce. In fiscal year 2022, the agency had about 79,000 full-time equivalent workers, a 9.1% decline from 2013. But the IRS is now beefing up its staff, thanks to Inflation Reduction Act funding, and it says that it is focusing on increasing audits for those earning above $400,000.
CBS News
Wisconsin school shooter was in contact with California man plotting his own attack, court documents say
The shooter who killed a student and teacher at a religious school in Wisconsin brought two guns to the school and was in contact with a man in California whom authorities say was planning to attack a government building, according to authorities and court documents that became public Wednesday.
Police were still investigating why the 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison shot and killed a fellow student and teacher on Monday before shooting herself, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told the Associated Press Wednesday. Two other students who were shot remained in critical condition on Wednesday.
A Southern California judge issued a restraining order Tuesday under California’s gun red flag law against a 20-year-old Carlsbad man. The order requires the man to turn his guns and ammunition into police within 48 hours unless an officer asks for them sooner because he poses an immediate danger to himself and others.
Carlsbad is located just north of San Diego.
According to the order, the man told FBI agents that he had been messaging Natalie Rupnow, the Wisconsin shooter, about attacking a government building with a gun and explosives. The order doesn’t say what building he had targeted or when he planned to launch his attack. It also doesn’t detail his interactions with Rupnow except to state that the man was plotting a mass shooting with her.
CBS’ San Diego affiliate KFMB-TV reported that law enforcement searched the man’s home Tuesday night after the order was signed by the judge.
Police, with the assistance of the FBI, were scouring online records and other resources and speaking with the shooter’s parents and classmates in an attempt to determine a motive for the shooting, Barnes told the AP.
Police don’t know if anyone was targeted in the attack or if the attack had been planned in advance, the chief said. Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
“I do not know if if she planned it that day or if she planned it a week prior,” Barnes said. “To me, bringing a gun to school to hurt people is planning. And so we don’t know what the premeditation is.”
On a Madison city website providing details about the shooting, police disclosed Wednesday that two guns were found at the school, but only one was used in the shooting. A law enforcement source previously told CBS News the weapon used appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
Barnes told the AP that he did not know how the suspected shooter obtained the guns and he declined to say who purchased them, citing the ongoing investigation.
No decisions have been made about whether Rupnow’s parents might be charged in relation to the shooting, but they have been cooperating, Barnes told the AP.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school that offers prekindergarten classes through high school. About 420 students attend the institution.
The Dan County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the two people killed Wednesday as 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara.
An online obituary on a local funeral site stated Vergara was a freshman who leaves behind her parents, one brother, and a large extended family. It described her as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band.”
West’s exact position with the school was unclear.
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A teacher and student killed in a shooting earlier this week at a school in Madison, Wisconsin, were identified Wednesday by authorities.
The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a news release provided to CBS News that 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara were fatally shot Monday morning at Abundant Life Christian School.
Preliminary examinations determined the two died of “homicidal firearm related trauma.” Both were pronounced dead at the scene, the medical examiner said.
An online obituary on a local funeral site stated Vergara was a freshman who leaves behind her parents, one brother, and a large extended family. It described her as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band.”
West’s exact position with the school was unclear.
The medical examiner also confirmed that a preliminary autopsy found that the suspected shooter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow — a student at the same school — was pronounced dead at a local hospital Monday of “firearm related trauma.” Madison Chief of Police Shon F. Barnes had previously told reporters that Rupnow was pronounced dead while being transported to a hospital.
Police had also previously stated that she was believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The shooting at the private Christian K-12 school was reported just before 11 a.m. Monday. In addition to the two people killed and the shooter, six others were wounded.
Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
A handgun was recovered after the shooting, Barnes said, but it was unclear where the gun came from or how many shots were fired. A law enforcement source said the weapon used in the shooting appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
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