One million audits.
That’s how many audits the IRS plans to conduct this year, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told reporters Thursday.
While 1 million is hardly small potatoes, it’s a lot less than the 1.4 million audits the agency conducted in 2013 and the 1.2 million it conducted last year.
The reason for the steady decline: Budget cuts that will leave the agency operating at a level that is 17% below where it was 5 years ago.
That is going to result in even more staff cuts, particularly in the agency’s enforcement division, Koskinen said.
But that doesn’t mean you should cut corners.
“It’s still not a good time to start cheating,” Koskinen said, noting that while the agency wants to work with filers who may have made mistakes on their returns, it doesn’t tolerate brazen cheaters.