Internal Revenue Service:
Opportunities to Reduce Taxpayer Burden Through Return-Free Filing
GGD-92-88BR: Published: May 8, 1992. Publicly Released: May 8, 1992.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the: (1) potential advantages and disadvantages of a tax return-free filing system; and (2) the feasibility of a return-free filing system that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) envisioned in a 1987 report.
GAO found that: (1) the IRS system would relieve millions of individual taxpayers of the burden of preparing and filing their own returns; (2) the IRS return-free system could be redesigned to use new technologies and be more cost-effective and feasible, but taxpayer resistance and the cost-effectiveness of other filling alternatives could make this an unattractive alternative; (3) IRS is using available technology to provide various filing alternatives, but they all continue to require that taxpayers prepare and submit paper documents and that IRS send out refunds and bills; (4) many foreign countries use a version of return-free filing called final withholding in which an employee's withholding becomes the tax; and (5) if the United States adopted the withholding system it could significantly reduce the number of individual returns and reduce costs to IRS.
Mar 1, 2021
Tax Filing:
Actions Needed to Address Processing Delays and Risks to the 2021 Filing SeasonGAO-21-251: Published: Mar 1, 2021. Publicly Released: Mar 1, 2021.
Jan 14, 2021
-
Tax Administration:
Better Coordination Could Improve IRS's Use of Third-Party Information Reporting to Help Reduce the Tax GapGAO-21-102: Published: Dec 15, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 14, 2021.
Nov 18, 2020
-
IRS Reorganization:
Planning Addressed Key Reform Practices, but Goals and Measures for the Plan Have Not Been FinalizedGAO-21-18: Published: Oct 19, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 18, 2020.
Nov 9, 2020
-
Opportunity Zones:
Improved Oversight Needed to Evaluate Tax Expenditure PerformanceGAO-21-30: Published: Oct 8, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 9, 2020.
Oct 19, 2020
-
Tax Administration:
Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight of Hospitals' Tax-Exempt StatusGAO-20-679: Published: Sep 17, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 19, 2020.
Sep 23, 2020
-
Taxpayer Service:
IRS Could Improve the Taxpayer Experience by Using Better Service Performance MeasuresGAO-20-656: Published: Sep 23, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 23, 2020.
Aug 31, 2020
-
Abusive Tax Schemes:
Offshore Insurance Products and Associated Compliance RisksGAO-20-589: Published: Jul 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Aug 31, 2020.
Jun 29, 2020
-
Taxpayer Compliance:
More Income Reporting Needed for Taxpayers Working through Online PlatformsGAO-20-366: Published: May 28, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 29, 2020.
Jun 16, 2020
-
Tax Exempt Organizations:
IRS Increasingly Uses Data in Examination Selection, but Could Further Improve Selection ProcessesGAO-20-454: Published: Jun 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 16, 2020.
May 1, 2020
-
Management Report:
Improvements Are Needed to Enhance the Internal Revenue Service's Internal Control over Financial ReportingGAO-20-480R: Published: May 1, 2020. Publicly Released: May 1, 2020.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here
Explore our Key Issues on Tax Policy and Administration
Explore our other Key Issues here
