- December 18, 2025
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Here’s a federal government tax statistic sure to make any CFO shake their head in exasperation: even though the IRS collects more than $3 trillion annually in taxes, penalties and interest fees, 16.4% of federal taxes owed go unpaid.
That’s $441 billion in lost revenue to the IRS, according to a new study from Solvable, a tax and financial planning website. The IRS calls that lost revenue figure the "average gross tax gap," the report states. Factoring in late payments and successful collection efforts, the net tax gap, or total tax debt owed, adds the report, drops to merely $381 billion.