13th Annual IRS-TPC Joint Research Conference on Tax Administration

 

Thursday, June 22, 2023, 8:35 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.

The 2023 IRS Research Bulletin (Publication 1500) PDF features selected papers from the IRS-Tax Policy Center (TPC) Research Conference held on June 22, 2023. Conference presenters and attendees included researchers from many areas of the IRS, officials from other government agencies, and academic and private sector experts on tax policy, tax administration, and tax compliance. For more information about IRS research conferences, including previous conference programs and papers, see IRS Research Conference for links to previous conferences.

8:35 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. – Opening

Wendy Edelberg* (Director of the Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution)

Eric Toder* (Institute Fellow, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center)

Barry Johnson* (Deputy Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Research, Applied Analytics and Statistics (IRS))

8:45 a.m. – 10:40 a.m. – Session 1: Service is Our Surname

Moderator: Deena Ackerman* (U.S. Department of The Treasury)

  • Looking Beyond Level of Service: Using Behavioral Insights to Improve Taxpayer Experience

    Jan Millard* (IRS, RAAS); Sarah Smolenski, Jonah Flateman, Jamil Mirabito, Omar Faruqi, Lauren Szczerbinski, Michael Stavrianos (ASR Analytics)

  • The Balance Due Taxpayer: How Do We Reduce IRS Cost and Taxpayer Burden for Resolving Balance Due Accounts?

    Howard Rasey*, Shannon Murphy, Frank Greco, Javier Framinan (IRS, W&I); Angela Colona, Javier Alvarez (IRS, Taxpayer Experience Office)

  • Understanding Yearly Changes in Family Structure and Income and Their Impact on Tax Credits: Can Tax Credits Be Advanced?

    Elaine Maag, Nikhita Airi*, Lillian Hunter (Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center)

  • Racial Disparities in Audit Rates

    Thomas Hertz* (IRS, RAAS)

Discussants:

  • Janet Holtzblatt* (Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center)
  • Emily Y. Lin* (U.S. Department of the Treasury)

10:40 a.m. - 10:55 a.m. – Break

11:55 a.m. - 12:25 p.m. – Session 2: Estimating Audit Aftershocks

Moderator: John Guyton* (IRS, RAAS)

  • Changes to Voluntary Compliance Following Random Taxpayer Audits

    Allan Partington*, Murat Besnek (Australian Taxation Office)

  • The Long-Term Impact of Audits on Nonfiling Taxpayers
    India Lindsay*, Jess Grana (MITRE); Alan Plumley (IRS, RAAS)
  • Silver Lining: Estimating the Compliance Response to Declining Audit Coverage

    Alan Plumley*, Daniel Rodriguez (IRS, RAAS); Jess Grana, Alexander McGlothlin (MITRE)

Discussant:  

William Boning* (U.S. Department of the Treasury)

12:25 p.m. – 1:25 p.m. – Keynote Speaker/Lunch

Catherine Rampell* (Washington Post)

1:25 p.m. – 2:55 p.m. – Session 3: Understanding Contemporary Taxpayers

Moderator: Russell James* (IRS, RAAS)

  • Who are Married-Filing-Separately Filers and Why Should We Care?

    Emily Y. Lin*, Navodhya Samarakoon (U.S. Department of the Treasury)

  • Willing but Unable to Pay? The Role of Gender in Tax Compliance

    Andrea Lopez-Luzuriaga (Universidad del Rosario); Carlos Scartascini* (Inter-American Development Bank)

  • Who Sells Cryptocurrency?

    Jeffrey L. Hoopes (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill); Tyler S. Menzer*, Jaron H. Wilde (University of Iowa)

Discussant:

Yan Sun* (IRS, RAAS)

2:55 p.m. - 3:10 p.m. – Break

3:10 p.m. - 4:40 p.m. – Session 4: Hidden Assets, Hidden Networks

Moderator: Robert McClelland* (Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center)

  • Following K-1s: Considering Foreign Accounts in Context

    Tomas Wind*, David Bratt, Alissa Graff, Anne Herlache (IRS, RAAS)

  • Application of Network Analysis to Identify Likely Ghost Preparer Networks

    Chris Hess, Joshua King*, Ashley Nowicki, Andrew Soto, Getaneh Yismaw, Ririko Horvath (IRS, RAAS); Brandon Gleason (IRS, Criminal Investigation); Jacob Brooks, Daniel Hales, Michael Stavrianos, Will Sundstrom (ASR Analytics)

  • The Offshore World According to FATCA: New Evidence on the Foreign Wealth of U.S. Households

    Niels Johannesen (University of Copenhagen); Daniel Reck* (University of Maryland); Max Risch (Carnegie Mellon University); Joel Slemrod (University of Michigan); John Guyton, Patrick Langetieg (IRS, RAAS)

Discussant: 

Paul Organ* (U.S. Department of the Treasury)

4:40 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. – Wrap-up

Barry Johnson* (Deputy Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Research, Applied Analytics, and Statistics (IRS))


* Bolded names indicate presenters.

For more information about IRS research conferences, including previous conference programs and papers: