March 11,2004

Grassley on IRS Audit Rates for Fiscal Year 2003

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Reporters and Editors
Re: IRS audit rates for Fiscal Year 2003
Da: Thursday, March 11, 2004

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, made the following commenton the IRS audit rates for Fiscal Year 2003 released today.

“We need to focus beyond just the numbers and make sure that the IRS is auditing smarter.Unfortunately, today’s numbers don’t show the trend of the increasing number of audits that findnothing wrong. Those ‘no-change’ audits mean that honest taxpayers could be put through thewringer for no reason. That’s why the IRS should focus its limited resources on tax cheats.”