The IRS has announced plans to increase audits on high net worth individuals. This group of taxpayers has been negligent in paying taxes, racking up a substantial tax bill. According to the notice, the IRS will begin sending audit notices to high net worth individuals when they return to work on July 15.

"A recent report issued by the Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration concluded that high-income non-filers accounted for about $45.7 billion in tax due," Jennifer Benda, a partner/shareholder at law firm Hall Estill, tells GlobeSt.com. "The IRS has determined that an efficient way to increase enforcement and collection and reduce the tax gap is to focus on the high-income non-filer category.  The report stated that TIGTA was concerned that the IRS had identified high-income non-filers and shelved the cases."

The term "high net worth" is a vague category with no formal description. Instead of earnings, the IRS will focus on the tax bill. "There are no formal monetary figures but the TIGTA report focuses on tax returns with more than $100,000 of tax due.  The IRS is also focused on taxpayers with related entities, including trusts and private foundations," says Benda.

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Kelsi Maree Borland

Kelsi Maree Borland is a freelance journalist and magazine writer based in Los Angeles, California. For more than 5 years, she has extensively reported on the commercial real estate industry, covering major deals across all commercial asset classes, investment strategy and capital markets trends, market commentary, economic trends and new technologies disrupting and revolutionizing the industry. Her work appears daily on GlobeSt.com and regularly in Real Estate Forum Magazine. As a magazine writer, she covers lifestyle and travel trends. Her work has appeared in Angeleno, Los Angeles Magazine, Travel and Leisure and more.