Recent Research on Tax Administration and Compliance

摘要

This edition of the IRS Research Bulletin (Publication 1500) features selected papers from the latest IRS Research Conference, held at the Georgetown University School of Law in Washington, DC, on June 11-12, 2008. Conference presenters and attendees included researchers from all areas of the IRS, officials from other Government agencies, and academic and private sector experts on tax policy, tax administration, and tax compliance. The conference began with a keynote address by the new IRS Commissioner, Douglas Shulman. Commissioner Shulman emphasized the importance of undertaking a rigorous research program to help improve both enforcement of the tax laws and the effectiveness of taxpayer service activities all with a view to improving taxpayer compliance and reducing the tax gap. He expressed his appreciation for the involvement of a wide range of researchers in that endeavor, as evidenced by the diverse makeup of the conference program and attendees. Mark Mazur, Director, Research, Analysis, and Statistics, then led a panel discussion that highlighted and critiqued the Ready Return program that the State of California has begun implementing, which provides a small number of individual taxpayers the opportunity to file tax returns that have been prepared, or started, by the State. The panelists highlighted the potential benefits, hurdles, and risks if the IRS were to implement a similar program. The remainder of the conference included sessions on estimating individual income tax noncompliance, administering the corporation income tax in the 21st century, an historical overview of the IRS Statistics of Income program, innovative approaches to improving tax compliance, and harnessing technology to improve tax adminstration. We hope that this volume will enable IRS executives, managers, employees, stakeholders, and tax administrators elsewhere to stay abreast of the latest trends and research findings affecting Federal tax administration. The research featured here is intended to provide a starting place from which to conduct further analysis.