- The IRS collected $6.5 billion from audits in fiscal year twenty twenty-five, down thirty-five percent from fiscal twenty twenty-four.
- Audit staffing fell by roughly thirty percent during the Trump administration’s second term, reducing examination capacity.
- Overall enforcement revenue also dropped to $93.8 billion, even as the IRS closed 497,621 examinations.
The IRS collected $6.5 billion from audits in fiscal year 2025, a 35% decline from $10 billion in fiscal year 2024, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report.
The drop followed the loss of roughly 30% of the agency’s staff dedicated to audits during the Trump administration’s second term. The reduction coincided with a fall in money collected through examinations.
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The report came out Monday, August 25, 2026. Its findings drew wider attention on August 31, 2026.
President Donald Trump began his second term by pushing to reduce the size of the federal workforce. The agency’s audit workforce shrank during that effort, which research on the report characterized as a government downsizing effort.
The decline extended beyond audits. Overall enforcement revenue fell to $93.8 billion in fiscal 2025 from $98.7 billion in fiscal 2024.
The broader enforcement total also declined in fiscal 2025
Enforcement revenue combines audits, appeals, and collections. It represents only a small portion of the agency’s total tax receipts.
| Measure | Fiscal 2024 | Fiscal 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audit revenue | $10 billion | $6.5 billion | 35% decline |
| Total enforcement revenue | $98.7 billion | $93.8 billion | $4.9 billion decline |
The audit figure fell more sharply than the broader enforcement total. The comparison covers money collected, not the number of examinations completed.
The workforce reduction offers a direct operational explanation for the change. Losing roughly 30% of audit staff can leave the agency with fewer examiners available for cases, including high-income and enforcement-focused matters.
The revenue figures suggest that audits became fewer or less productive after the staffing reductions. They do not show that every audit category produced the same result.
Audit recommendations exceeded collections, but the measures track different stages
The agency closed 497,621 examinations in fiscal 2025 and recommended $26.8 billion in additional tax. Those figures describe completed examinations and proposed liabilities.
Audit collections measure something later. The $6.5 billion records revenue actually collected from audits.
| Fiscal 2025 measure | Amount or count | What it describes |
|---|---|---|
| Closed examinations | 497,621 | Audits completed during the year |
| Additional tax recommended | $26.8 billion | Tax recommended through those examinations |
| Audit revenue collected | $6.5 billion | Money collected from audits |
A recommendation is not the same as a payment. Collection can occur after an examination closes, and the amounts can differ.
That distinction allows examination volume and audit yield to move in different directions. In fiscal 2025, the agency closed hundreds of thousands of examinations while collecting far less than the amount of additional tax it recommended.
The figures also place the audit decline within a wider enforcement picture. Appeals and collections contributed to the $93.8 billion enforcement total, so that number cannot be treated as an audit-only result.
The audit-revenue drop was tied to the workforce cuts that reduced the number of employees assigned to examinations. The same period produced lower total enforcement revenue, although the broader figure covers more than audits.
The report’s fiscal-year comparison was released on Monday, August 25, 2026, before the findings received wider attention on August 31, 2026. A closed examination can produce a tax recommendation without producing an equivalent collection in the same period.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax advice. Consult a qualified tax professional or CPA about your specific situation.
