Table 8b. Earned Income Tax Credit Return Correspondence 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 848,210 360,101 290,010 572,525 253,687 389,796 367,314
Nonbusiness returns:
Forms 1040A with TPI under $25,000 [1] 560,056 276,197 252,571 480,878 179,217 291,908 241,544
All other returns by size of TPI:
Under $25,000 47,181 17,661 17,303 31,575 17,662 25,376 59,851
$25,000 under $50,000 95,188 30,993 5,762 15,063 7,936 7,185 11,067
$50,000 under $100,000 76,375 13,262 403 959 415 531 830
$100,000 or more [2] 15,505 2,907 74 158 70 91 114
Business returns:
Schedule C returns by size of TGR:
Under $25,000 30,743 12,449 11,358 37,182 42,145 50,698 42,904
$25,000 under $100,000 15,730 4,653 1,938 4,634 5,161 12,053 9,494
$100,000 or more 5,690 1,658 373 1,082 841 1,822 1,277
Schedule F returns by size of TGR:
Under $100,000 1,030 196 166 613 165 96 171
$100,000 or more 712 125 62 381 75 36 62
Number of FTEs [3] 344 199 197 437 314 480 471
[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.