IRS Shifts Focus in Audits of Wealthy Taxpayers, Watchdog Finds

The Internal Revenue Service has stopped complying with a 2020 Treasury Department Directive to audit at least 8% of all taxpayers with incomes greater than $10 million, instead focusing on a newer order to not increase audit rates for earners with an income below $400,000, according to a watchdog report.

Then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, issued the 2020 directive. Current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, appointed by President Joe Biden, ordered the IRS in August 2022 to not use any tax-and-climate law funding to raise the percentage of taxpayers with incomes below $400,000 who are ...