Gap between US income taxes owed and paid is set to keep growing, IRS says

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The amount of tax money owed but not paid to the IRS is set to keep growing. For tax years 2021 and 2020, the projected gross “tax gap” soared to $688 billion and $601 billion, respectively. That marks a significant jump compared to years past. One of the IRS’s biggest challenges is making sure that people actually pay their taxes. While agency data shows that the vast majority of Americans pay their taxes voluntarily and on time, hundreds of billions of dollars in unpaid taxes pile up each year — and tax gap estimates keep getting bigger. Part of the $80 billion the IRS received from the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act is being used to increase compliance efforts.