The Statistics of Income bulletin can be interesting to read because the information compares certain tax related figures such as income, adjusted gross income, tax credits and other issues from tax year to tax year. The article below discusses a few of the figures and statistics that have recently been released on the spring of 2014 Statistics of Income bulletin.
The Internal Revenue Service has released the Statistics of Income (SOI) bulletin. This most recent bulletin discusses tax issues from tax period 2011 and analyzes the increase in high income tax returns, as well as other tax trends such as foreign earned income by individuals. The SOI bulletin is quarterly.
Notes from the Spring SOI bulletin include:
– For the 2011 tax year, of which 1040s would have been due April 15, 2012, taxpayer’s filed 145 million 1040s and about 63% were taxable returns, meaning the tax return showed a total income tax greater than $0. This percentage is the third lowest percentage in the last 25 years.
– Total adjusted gross income on these taxable returns totaled $7.69 trillion in the year 2011 and total income tax was $1.05 trillion.
– The average tax rate in 2011 increased .5 percentage points to 13.6
– When looking at alternative minimum tax issues (AMT) the number of tax returns subject to AMT increased by approximately 200,000 returns.
– 4.7 million 1040 individual income tax returns had an adjusted gross income of $200,000 or greater, which could be a threshold regarding high income tax returns. This amount was 3.2% of tax returns filed for the tax period.
– If looking at expanded income as opposed to adjusted gross income, the number of high income tax returns would be higher at approximately 4.8 million returns.
– $38.7 billion was reported in charitable deductions, with large organizations receiving the majority of donations followed by foundations.
– $43.6 billion was reported in noncash charitable contributions.
– In 2011, 450,000 United States taxpayers living abroad reported $54.2 billion of foreign earned income. Salaries and wages compose over 76% of this figure. $28.3 billion was claimed as foreign income excluded from tax. Of all the taxpayers claiming foreign earned income on their 2011 1040 tax return, over 60% of these taxpayers had no United States tax income liability in 2011. $16.5 billion was claimed in foreign tax credit on about 6.9 million tax returns.
At tax attorney at The McGuire Law Firm can assist you with your tax questions and issues. The McGuire Law Firm works with both individual and business taxpayers from tax planning & tax analysis to resolving IRS problems and disputes. Call to schedule a free consultation with a tax attorney!
