Tax Analysts provides news, analysis, and commentary on tax-related topics, including tax compliance. Taxpayer compliance broadly refers to the obligation of an individual, employer, corporation, partnership, estate, trust, organization, or other entity to file accurate returns and pay taxes by specified deadlines. The tax compliance area also includes an ever-increasing variety of information reporting requirements for individuals and businesses.
One measure of taxpayer compliance is the so-called tax gap, which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) defines as “the difference between the estimated amount taxpayers owe and the amount they voluntarily and timely pay for a tax year.” (Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), “Semiannual Report to Congress: April 1, 2014 – September 30, 2014” (Dec. 2014)). That calculation generally includes estimates of unfiled returns and lost revenues.
Federal, state, and international tax authorities enforce tax compliance initiatives through audits (the review or examination of financial information and accounts), revenue collection, and criminal investigations. Nonfiling of returns, underreporting of income, or underpayment of taxes will result in the assessment of penalties and additions to tax, as detailed in court opinions and IRS and Treasury documents published by Tax Analysts.
Tax Analysts also covers tax compliance initiatives involving offshore financial activity, such as enforcement of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the negotiation of treaty provisions and intergovernmental agreements governing the exchange of tax-related information between countries. Tax Analysts news stories and commentary also address another other efforts to stop international tax evasion, such as through implementation of the common reporting standard – the OECD’s corollary to FATCA.