Federal tax gap: $300B per year.

• Position: News & Trends - Brief Article

The IRS has released the results of a four-year study of taxpayer compliance, the first such study since 1988.

The research found that the nation's gross tax gap exceeds $300 billion per year. Enforcement activities and late payments recover about $55 billion each year, leaving a tax gap of between $257 billion and $298 billion per year. Other findings include:

* The largest component of the tax gap is underreporting of income, which accounts for more than 80 percent of the total. Non-filing and underpayment account for about 10 percent each.

* The...