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IRS - Taxpayer Compliance Research

Taxpayer Compliance Research

This section contains research papers, publications, and other documents dealing with taxpayer compliance. You can learn about the tax gap, specific compliance analysis issues, and studies of the causes of compliance behavior. Below are links to the topics within this section, as well as some examples of what you can find within each topic.

Tax Gap

The tax gap is the difference between true tax liability for a given tax year and the amount that is paid on time. It is comprised of the nonfiling gap, the underreporting gap, and the underpayment gap.

This section contains:

IRS reports and presentations on the size of the tax gap for various tax years
Related charts and tables
Reports on reducing the tax gap

Compliance Analysis

This section contains a wide variety of papers related to taxpayer compliance, including:

Overviews of National Research Program (NRP) data
Analyses of NRP data
Estimates of noncompliance other than the tax gap

Understanding Taxpayer Compliance Behavior

While the tax gap reflects the extent of taxpayer noncompliance, it is also important to understand why taxpayers are compliant or noncompliant. This section contains papers that seek to provide insights into taxpayer behavior through:

Econometric analyses
Lab experiments
Field or natural experiments
Other modeling

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Page Last Reviewed or Updated: 2012-08-04