The Treasury Department announced Friday that it had collected $1.3 billion in unpaid taxes from high-income Americans.
The recovered funds were part of the Biden administration's effort to help wealthy people meet their tax obligations under the Curb Inflation Act. According to a statement from the ministry:.
Starting in February 2024, the IRS plans to begin tracking 125,000 “high-income, high-asset taxpayers” who haven't filed taxes since 2017.
These individuals were targeted after the IRS discovered third-party materials, such as W2 and 1099 forms, that showed these people had earned income but had not filed tax returns.
The Treasury Department credits the Inflation Control Act with giving the IRS more money to do this work. The funding has become a major political issue, with Republicans seeking to claw back some of the funding and arguing it could target middle-class taxpayers. The Biden administration has said the money is being used to go after wealthy taxpayers.
“Prior to the Contain Inflation Act, the IRS Nonfiler Program had operated intermittently since 2016, as severe budget and staffing limitations prevented it from pursuing these cases,” the Treasury Department said.
In the first six months of the program, about 21,000 wealthy taxpayers have filed, with $172 million paid so far, the department said.
The effort was set to begin in fall 2023, but the IRS expanded the effort after successfully collecting $160 million last year.
“Of the 1,600 millionaires with delinquent taxes, about 80 percent remain unpaid, with more than $1.1 billion in recoveries,” the department said. “This represents an additional $100 million since July, when the Treasury Department and the IRS announced they had reached the $1 billion milestone.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to speak Friday in Austin, Texas, alongside IRS Commissioner Danny Wuerfel.
