Stanford University published a study in 2023 with the Treasury Department showing that the IRS Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) audit selection process disproportionately selects Black taxpayers. While the report does not indicate the IRS intentionally selected certain demographic groups for audit more often than others, the data strongly suggests that the IRS audit selection process created unintentional bias against certain taxpayer groups. As the IRS investigated the findings from this report, TAS supplied data from its own closed EITC cases to the IRS’s Research, Applied Analytics, and Statistics (RAAS) function. RAAS conducted a preliminary analysis of TAS’s closed EITC audit cases and did not find a similar bias in TAS EITC case receipts from and outcomes for Black taxpayers.

With RAAS, TAS will perform a more comprehensive analysis of all TAS case receipts and closures and the study will examine if TAS case receipts occur proportionally to overall taxpayer demographics and if the resolution of those cases occurs proportionally across all demographic segments. While the population of TAS casework is significantly impacted by IRS actions, this assessment is expected to identify demographic segments in need of additional awareness of TAS services. TAS will analyze its case quality data to ensure it works cases consistently regardless of taxpayer demographics. An evaluation of TAS casework and the resulting relief provided to taxpayers by demographic segments will allow TAS to determine if it can improve existing procedures to prevent unintentionally biased outcomes to parts of its customer base. TAS will also determine if it needs to raise awareness of its services and conduct outreach to particular demographic groups.