Table 8a. Total Earned Income Tax Credit Return Examination Volume
By Examination Class
Fiscal Years 1996 - 2002
Return Type/Examination Class 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Individual income tax returns, total 851,083 365,646 324,243 607,308 272,020 413,896 377,758
Nonbusiness returns:
Forms 1040A with TPI under $25,000 [1] 560,747 279,021 278,708 503,855 190,234 305,279 247,329
All other returns by size of TPI:
Under $25,000 47,955 18,357 20,053 34,597 19,642 27,281 60,642
$25,000 under $50,000 95,589 31,337 7,181 16,459 9,232 8,812 11,516
$50,000 under $100,000 76,521 13,413 593 1,127 546 918 944
$100,000 or more [2] 15,536 2,952 117 213 93 138 203
Business returns:
Schedule C returns by size of TGR:
Under $25,000 31,145 13,439 13,504 42,172 44,932 56,508 44,958
$25,000 under $100,000 16,030 4,990 2,945 5,785 5,839 12,747 10,384
$100,000 or more 5,793 1,792 842 2,030 1,228 2,072 1,543
Schedule F returns by size of TGR:
Under $100,000 1,050 216 216 659 187 97 175
$100,000 or more 717 129 84 411 87 44 64
Number of FTEs [3] 350 215 335 659 528 633 557
[1] Includes Forms 1040A and 1040EZ
[2] Drops in examination closures in FYs 1997 and 1998 resulted from prior year modifications to EITC eligibility and filing rules.
[3] Full Time Equivalents are calculated by the following formula:
[(Direct Staff Hours per AIMS) / (2087)] / (Direct Compliance Time Percentage per IRS Examination Table 37)
Source: IRS, Report to Congress: IRS Tax Compliance Activities. July 2003. Also, AIMS Database (closed Cases),
IRS Examination Table 37 - An Examination activity management report.