Income Ranges of Taxpayers Who May Have Overpaid Federal Taxes by
Not Itemizing (11-APR-02, GAO-02-638R).
This report provides information on the income ranges of
taxpayers who may have overpaid federal taxes by not itemizing.
GAO found that of the returns filed for tax year 1998, of
taxpayers may have overpaid federal taxes by not itemizing, 53
percent showed adjusted gross incomes of $50,000 or less. Eleven
percent showed adjusted gross incomes of more than $75,000. The
median adjusted gross income for these returns was about $47,000
(with a 95 percent confidence interval of $35,000 to $58,000).
The median adjusted gross income for all returns filed in tax
year 1998 was about $27,000.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-02-638R
ACCNO: A03064
TITLE: Income Ranges of Taxpayers Who May Have Overpaid Federal
Taxes by Not Itemizing
DATE: 04/11/2002
SUBJECT: Overpayments
Federal taxes
Income taxes
Taxpayers
******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a **
** GAO Product. **
** **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced. Tables are included, but **
** may not resemble those in the printed version. **
** **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed **
** document's contents. **
** **
******************************************************************
GAO-02-638R
GAO- 02- 638R Income Ranges
United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548
April 11, 2002 The Honorable Dick Armey Majority Leader House of
Representatives
Subject: Income Ranges of Taxpayers Who May Have Overpaid Federal Taxes by
Not Itemizing
Dear Mr. Armey: As was discussed with your staff, this letter provides some
information on the income ranges of taxpayers who may have overpaid federal
taxes by not itemizing. This information relates to our March 29, 2002,
report Tax Deductions: Further Estimates of Taxpayers Who May Have Overpaid
Federal Taxes by Not Itemizing (GAO- 02- 509) and was developed in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
As shown in table 1, we estimate that of the returns filed for tax year 1998
by taxpayers who may have overpaid federal taxes by not itemizing, 53
percent showed adjusted gross incomes of $50,000 or less. Eleven percent of
the returns showed adjusted gross incomes of more than $75,000.
Table 1: Distribution of Returns, by Adjusted Gross Income, on Which
Taxpayers May Have Overpaid Taxes because Itemizable Deductions May Have
Exceeded the Standard Deduction, Tax Year 1998
Returns on which mortgage interest and points and state and local income tax
plus imputed charitable contributions, real estate and personal property
taxes exceeded the standard deduction Adjusted gross
income range Estimated
returns (in thousands)
95% confidence interval (in thousands) Percentage of
returns
�$ 25,000 288 198- 401 13 $25,001-$ 50,000 853 588- 1, 177 40 $50,001-$
75,000 774 456- 1, 140 36 $75,001-$ 100, 000 179 119- 257 8
>$ 100, 000 62 37- 98 3
Total 2,157 1,602- 2,838 100
Note: Totals may not sum because of rounding. Source: GAO analysis of
Statistics of Income and other IRS data and Department of Labor consumer
expenditure survey data.
GAO- 02- 638R Income Ranges Page 2
The median adjusted gross income for these returns was about $47,000 (with a
95 percent confidence interval of $35,000 to $58,000). The median adjusted
gross income for all returns in tax year 1998 was about $27,000.
We are sending copies of this letter to Representative William Thomas,
chairman, and Representative Charles B. Rangel, ranking minority member,
House Committee on Ways and Means; Senator Max Baucus, chairman, and Senator
Charles E. Grassley, ranking member, Senate Finance Committee;
Representative Amo Houghton, chairman, and Representative William J. Coyne,
ranking minority member, Subcommittee on Oversight, House Committee on Ways
and Means; and the Honorable Charles O. Rossotti, commissioner of internal
revenue. We will make copies available to others on request. This letter
will also be available on GAO?s home page at http:// www. gao. gov.
If you have any questions, please contact me on (202) 512- 9110 or Assistant
Director Ralph Block on (415) 904- 2150.
Sincerely yours, James R. White Director, Tax Issues
(440124)
*** End of document. ***