Publication 1136 — Statistics of Income (SOI) Bulletin, Spring 2026

Official source: IRS Forms, Instructions & Publications (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1136.pdf), retrieved 2026-10-03. U.S. Government work (17 U.S.C. § 105).

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Service. This report provides written descriptive analyses of statistics previously released on SOI’s Tax Stats webpage (see www.irs.gov/statistics) based on the data collected from the distinct types of tax and information returns filed with the IRS and included in SOI’s programs. Periodically, this report also includes results from special analytical studies of particular interest to students of the U.S. tax system, tax policymakers, and tax administrators. Selected historical and other data tables, previously published in the spring issue of the SOI Bulletin, are now only available on SOI’s Tax Stats webpages of the IRS website (https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-taxstats-historical-data-tables). Information on the availability of supplemental data on the topics included in this issue or other SOI subjects may be obtained by sending an email to SOI’s Statistical Information Services at sis@irs.gov, or by writing to the Director, Statistics of Income Division OS:RAAS:S, Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW, K-Room 4112, Washington, D.C. 20224.

The SOI Bulletin was prepared under the direction of Wayne Kei, Chief, Data Dissemination Section. Daniel Martinez (layout and graphics editor) prepared the manuscript. Spencer Adams (writer/editor) and Beth Kilss (contractor) also made major contributions in the production of this issue. Views expressed in the article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Treasury Department or the Internal Revenue Service.

by Justin Bryan

For Tax Year 2022, there were just under 12.5 million individual income tax returns with an adjusted gross income of $200,000 or more, which accounted for 7.8% of all returns that were filed for the year. Of these, 9,997 returns had no worldwide income tax liability, which was a 12.7 % increase from the previous year. It was the fourth increase in a row, but still below the peak of 12,326 returns for Tax Year 2008.

NOTE: When using information from this report, cite the publication as follows— Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income Bulletin Spring 2026 Washington, D.C.

w w w . i r s . g o v / s t a t i s t i c s Statistics of Income Bulletin | Spring 2026

or Tax Year (TY) 2022, there were just under 12.5 million individual income tax returns with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $200,000 or more, which accounted for 7.8% of all

returns filed for the year. ¹ Of these, 9,997 returns had no worldwide income tax liability, which was a 12.7% increase from the previous year. It was the fourth increase in a row but still below the peak of 12,326 returns for TY 2008.

This article presents detailed data for high-income returns for TY 2022 and summary data for TYs 1977–2021. Detailed data for TYs 1974–2021 were previously published. ²

Major changes in effect for TY 2022 that influenced the data in this article are explained here. Many changes implemented by Public Law 117-2—enacted on March 11, 2021, and is commonly referred to as the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act—for TY 2021 were not extended for TY 2022. The child and dependent care credit dollar limit on qualifying expenses was $3,000 (previously $8,000 in TY 2021) for one qualifying person and $6,000 (previously $16,000) for two or more qualifying persons. The maximum percentage of qualifying expenses eligible for the credit decreased from 50% to 35%, along with the income limit at which the credit began phasing out, $15,000 (previously $125,000 for TY 2021). Additionally, for taxpayers who received dependent care benefits from their employer, the dollar limit of the exclusion amount decreased for TY 2022 to $5,000 (previously $10,500). For married employees filing separate returns, the maximum amount decreased to $2,500 (previously $5,250). Also, for TY 2022, the child and dependent care credit was nonrefundable whereas it was a refundable credit for TY 2021.

Under the ARP Act of 2021, many changes were made to enhance the child tax credit, but those changes were not extended for TY 2022. A child must have been under age 17 at the end of TY 2022 to be a qualifying child, down from 18

in TY 2021. Depending on modified AGI, a taxpayer received a credit amount of up to $2,000 for a qualifying child, down from the TY 2021 maximum amounts of $3,600 for children under 5 and $3,000 for those older. The amount of the child tax credit that could be claimed as a refundable credit was limited as it was in TY 2020, except the maximum additional child tax credit amount increased to $1,500 for each qualifying child. The credit for other dependents was unchanged from TY 2021 and remained at $500.

Lastly, the ARP Act of 2021 provided certain self-employed individuals the opportunity to claim credits for up to 10 days of “paid sick leave” and up to 60 days of “paid family leave” if they were unable to work or telework due to circumstances related to COVID-19. These credits expired in TY 2022 and could no longer be claimed.

Two income concepts are used in this article to classify tax returns as high-income: the statutory concept of AGI and the “expanded income” concept. The expanded income concept includes items that were reported on the tax return to obtain a more comprehensive measure of income than AGI. Specifically, expanded income is AGI plus tax-exempt interest, nontaxable Social Security benefits, the foreign-earned income exclusion, and items of “tax preference” for Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) purposes less unreimbursed employee business expenses, moving expenses, investment interest expenses to the extent that they do not exceed investment income, and miscellaneous itemized deductions. ^3,4,5

AGI and expanded income differed for 36.7 million (22.8%) of the 161.1 million individual income tax returns filed for TY 2022 (Figure A). This was a 2.4% increase from the number of returns that differed for TY 2021. Expanded income exceeded AGI in 96.2% of these returns. The average difference between expanded income and AGI was $11,662, and the

1 The Tax Reform Act of 1976 requires annual publication of data on individual income tax returns reporting incomes of $200,000 or more, including the number of such returns reporting no income tax liability and the importance of various tax provisions in making these returns nontaxable. The statutory requirement is contained in section 2123 of the Tax Reform Act of 1976 (90 Stat. at 1915). 2 See the References section for more details. 3 The definition of adjustments to AGI to obtain the expanded income given in the text is for the current year. See Appendix A for a discussion of AGI and expanded income and a list of adjustments covering all years since 1977. 4 See Notes to Appendix A, note A4. 5 Tax-exempt interest had to be reported on the individual income tax return starting with TY 1987 and is included in expanded income starting with that year. Beginning with TY 1991, taxexempt interest was incorporated into the criteria used for sampling returns for Statistics of Income, thus increasing the reliability of the estimates of expanded income.

median difference was $8,211, up from $11,614 and $7,741 in TY 2021, respectively. Although expanded income is a more comprehensive measure of income than AGI, for some taxpayers the subtractions from AGI to arrive at expanded income exceeded the additions, resulting in expanded income that was less than AGI. Returns on which expanded income exceeded AGI were concentrated among returns with less than $200,000 of AGI. For returns with $200,000 or more of AGI and expanded income differing from AGI, a smaller fraction (85.6%) has expanded income greater than AGI than for returns with less than $200,000 of AGI (97.7%).

There are also two tax concepts that were used in this article to classify returns as taxable or nontaxable: “U.S. income tax” and “worldwide income tax.” U.S. income tax is total federal income tax liability, which includes the AMT, less all credits against income tax and does not include payroll or self-employment taxes. To be considered taxable, a return had

to have a positive income tax liability after accounting for all credits. A nontaxable return, on the other hand, could have either a zero or negative income tax liability after accounting for all credits (including refundable credits). Since the federal income tax applies to worldwide income and allows a credit (subject to certain limits) for income taxes paid to foreign governments, a return could be classified as nontaxable under the U.S. income tax concept even though income taxes had been paid to a foreign government. The worldwide income tax concept addresses this circumstance by adding back the allowable foreign tax credit and foreign taxes paid on excluded foreign-earned income to U.S. income tax. ^6,7 The sum of these two items is believed to be a reasonable proxy for foreign taxes paid. ⁸

Figure B shows a cross-tabulation of tax returns based on whether a return has positive, zero, or negative U.S. income tax liability and whether it also has positive, zero, or negative worldwide income tax. All returns with positive U.S. income tax liability have positive worldwide income tax liability;

Figure A Individual Income Tax Returns With Positive, Zero, and Negative U.S. Income Tax: Differences Between Adjusted Gross Income and Expanded Income, by Size of Adjusted Gross Income, Tax Year 2022

[Money amounts are in whole dollars]

[1] Includes returns with adjusted gross deficit.

Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of U.S. income tax.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

6 See Appendix B for a discussion of the tax concepts. 7 The inclusion of foreign taxes paid on excluded foreign earned income, beginning with TY 1990, represents an improvement in the worldwide income tax concept. However, it also represents a slight break in the year-to-year comparability of data for worldwide income tax. Nevertheless, the number of returns with foreign taxes paid on excluded foreign-earned income is extremely small compared to the number of returns with the foreign tax credit. 8 Where foreign tax rates exceed U.S. rates, foreign tax credits will be less than foreign tax liabilities. In such cases, using foreign tax credits as a proxy for foreign tax liabilities understates worldwide income tax liability. In other cases, when foreign tax credits are for taxes paid on income from previous years, use of foreign tax credits as a proxy may overstate or understate worldwide taxes on current-year income.

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returns with zero U.S. tax liability have either positive or zero worldwide income tax liability; and returns with negative U.S. income tax liability have either positive or negative worldwide income tax liability. Just under one-third (31.3%) of the 161.1 million tax returns filed for TY 2022 had zero or negative U.S. income tax liability, and 93.2% of these returns had AGI of less than $50,000. Just over 0.5% of returns with zero or negative U.S. income tax liability had positive worldwide income tax liability, and 52.4% of these returns had an AGI of $50,000 or more.

For TY 2022, there were just under 12.5 million individual income tax returns with an AGI of at least $200,000, and, likewise, just under 12.7 million returns with an expanded income of $200,000 or more (Figure C). The number of returns with AGI above the $200,000 threshold increased 8.3% from TY 2021 and accounted for slightly less than 7.8% of all returns for TY 2022. The returns with expanded incomes above the $200,000 threshold increased 8.4% from TY 2021 and accounted for just under 7.9% of all returns for TY 2022.

The $200,000 threshold for high-income returns is measured in current-year (nominal) dollars. Because it is fixed in nominal terms, as time passes, more and more tax returns have incomes

exceeding this threshold simply due to inflation. Therefore, to facilitate a comparison of tax returns across time, Figure C also shows what the $200,000 threshold in 1976 would be each year after adjusting for inflation and the number and share of returns above this threshold. ⁹ For TY 2022, this inflationadjusted threshold was $1,028,664. Since 1977, the number of returns with AGI above this inflation-adjusted threshold has increased at an average rate of approximately 7.6%. In comparison, the total number of returns has increased 1.4% per year on average since 1977.

Adjusting for inflation, the number of returns for TY 2022 above the AGI threshold was 770,735 or 0.48% of all returns, down from 0.59% of all returns in TY 2021. The number of returns for TY 2022 above the inflation-adjusted threshold using the expanded income concept was 772,580 or 0.48% of all returns, down from 0.59% of all returns in TY 2021. Since TY 1977, the number of returns with expanded income above this threshold has increased at an average rate of approximately 7.0%.

Although the number of returns reporting incomes of $200,000 or more generally increased annually from 1977– 2022, the exceptions to this reflect the economic downturns in TYs 2001, 2002, 2008, and 2009. The general trend of a rise in the number of returns is similar when using the inflation

Figure B

[1] Includes returns with adjusted gross deficit.

Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of U.S. and worldwide income tax.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

9 Inflation-adjusted dollars are based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) as published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. The consumer price index approximates buying patterns of typical urban consumers. The annual index is the average of the monthly indices.

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Figure C All Individual Income Tax Returns and Returns With Income of $200,000 or More Measured in Current and Inflation-Adjusted Dollars, by Income Concept, Tax Years 1977-2022

Footnotes at end of figure

adjusted income threshold. However, the increases are much smaller, and the number of returns above the inflation-adjusted threshold decreased in additional years, e.g., TYs 1980, 1981, 1987 (expanded income only), 1989, 1990 (AGI only), 1991, 1993, 2013, and 2016. Many of these years also coincided with economic downturns. ¹⁰ For TY 2022, the number of

returns above the inflation-adjusted threshold under both income concepts dropped dramatically after rising substantially in TY 2021. This could have been due to Covid-19 related responses in TY 2021 as well as the large increase in the inflation rate in TY 2022.

10 See National Bureau of Economic Research list of business cycles at http://www.nber.org/cycles.html.

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Figure C—(Continued) All Individual Income Tax Returns and Returns With Income of $200,000 or More Measured in Current and Inflation-Adjusted Dollars, by Income Concept, Tax Years 1977-2022—Continued

1976 as the base year. See footnote 7 of this article for further details. Note: See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Beginning with TY 1987, the difference in the number of high-income returns between the two income concepts significantly decreased when AGI began to include 100% of longterm capital gains. This change in the definition of AGI made it more comparable to the expanded-income concept. In addi

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tion, due to the inclusion of tax-exempt interest in expanded income in TY 1987, expanded income for the years after TY 1986 is not strictly comparable to expanded income for the years before TY 1987.

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Of the 12.5 million income tax returns with AGI of $200,000 or more, 28,691 showed no U.S. income tax liability for TY 2022 (top panel of Figure D). Also, 36,465 of the 12.7 million tax returns with expanded income of $200,000 or more had no U.S. income tax liability. This represents a 28.9% increase for highAGI returns and a 25.6% increase for high-expanded-income

returns with no U.S. income tax liability from the corresponding numbers of nontaxable high-income returns for TY 2021.

Of the returns with AGI of $200,000 or more, 9,997 returns showed no worldwide income tax liability for TY 2022. Of returns with expanded income of $200,000 or more, 11,587 showed no worldwide income tax liability. This represents a 12.7% increase for high-AGI returns and a 17.5% increase for high-expanded-income returns with no worldwide income tax

Figure D Nontaxable Individual Income Tax Returns With Income of $200,000 or More Measured in Current and Inflation-Adjusted Dollars, by Tax and Income Concept, Tax Years 1977-2022

Footnotes at end of figure.

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Figure D—(Continued) Nontaxable Individual Income Tax Returns With Income of $200,000 or More Measured in Current and Inflation-Adjusted Dollars, by Tax and Income Concept, Tax Years 1977-2022—Continued

article for further details. See Figure C, Column 6, for the yearly inflation-adjusted thresholds. Notes: See Figure M for the derivation of U.S. income tax and worldwide income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. In order to maintain historical comparability, Tax Years 2007 and 2008 data were recalculated using the new criteria. However, 2007 and 2008 tables, published earlier, do not reflect these changes. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 202

liability when compared to the number of returns in the same categories for TY 2021.

Tables 1 and 2 also show the number of all returns, taxable returns, and nontaxable returns cross-classified by broad AGI

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and expanded-income size classes. Most returns fall in the same broad income-size class under both income concepts, but the number of nontaxable returns under the expanded-income concept is generally greater than under the AGI concept

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in each income class that is over $50,000. Furthermore, Tables 1 and 2 also show that there were 12.4 million returns with incomes of $200,000 or more as measured by both AGI and expanded income, of which 24,746 returns had no U.S. income tax liability and 6,228 returns had no worldwide income tax liability, respectively.

with a nominal $200,000 threshold, while only 0.11% had no U.S. income tax liability for 2022 using an inflation-adjusted threshold. Similarly, 0.08% of high-income returns over the nominal threshold and 0.05% of high-income returns above the inflation-adjusted threshold had no worldwide income tax liability for the same year. When using expanded income with a nominal $200,000 threshold, 0.29% of high-income returns had no U.S. income tax liability and 0.08% had no worldwide income tax liability for 2022, while an inflation-adjusted threshold showed that 0.08% had no U.S. income tax liability and even fewer (0.01%) had no worldwide income tax liability.

Of the almost 771,000 returns with AGI over the inflation-adjusted high-income threshold, 870 returns had no U.S. income tax liability in TY 2022, up 9.8% from the previous year (lower panel of Figure D), while 364 returns showed no worldwide income tax liability, up 25.5% from the number for TY 2021. Measured using expanded income, of the roughly 773,000 returns above the inflation-adjusted threshold, 635 returns had no U.S. income tax liability, down 10.6% from TY 2021, and 104 returns showed no worldwide income tax liability for TY 2021, down 39.2% over the previous year.

Figure E shows the evolution of the number and percentage of returns with expanded income of $200,000 or more with no worldwide income tax. The number of returns above the threshold is read off the left vertical axis, and the percentage of returns above the threshold is read off the right vertical axis. Two series are shown for each measure, one using a nominal $200,000 threshold and one using an inflation-adjusted threshold.

Moving from the nominal $200,000 threshold to an inflation-adjusted threshold only slightly changes the share of high-income returns that have either no U.S. income tax liability or no worldwide income tax liability. Using AGI, 0.23% of high-income returns had no U.S. income tax liability

In this figure, the spread between the two shares was small for the late 1970s, showed an increase for the early 1980s, and then narrowed before widening again after TY 1988. The spread

Figure E Individual Income Tax Returns With Expanded Income of $200,000 or More: Number and Percentage of Returns With No Worldwide Income Tax Liability, Measured in Current and Inflation-Adjusted Dollars, Tax Years 1977–2022

Number of returns Percentage of returns

20,000

18,000

16,000

14,000

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0

1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021

Tax year

0.50

0.45

0.40

0.35

0.30

0.25

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00

Number of returns (current dollars) Number of returns (inflation-adjusted dollars) [1] Percentage of returns (current dollars) Percentage of returns (inflation-adjusted dollars) [1]

[1] Inflation-adjusted dollars were calculated using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index for urban consumers with 1976 as the base year. See footnote 7 of this article for further details. Notes: See Figure M for the derivation of worldwide income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. In order to maintain historical comparability, Tax Years 2007 and 2008 data were recalculated using the new criteria. However, 2007 and 2008 tables, published earlier, do not reflect these changes. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of expanded income. Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

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generally narrowed after TY 1993 but increased or stayed consistent from TYs 2002–2007. From TYs 2008–2017, the spread widened considerably. The gaps for TYs 2018-2022 (almost 0.08 percentage points for TY 2022) were considerably smaller than the previous ten years and more in line with most of the years in this study. ¹¹

Taxpayers may have their tax liability reduced—possibly to zero or below—in numerous ways. These include claiming tax credits, which directly reduces an individual’s tax liability; claiming various deductions, which reduces taxable income; and receiving income that is excluded from the calculation of taxable income, or some combination of these.

It is possible for certain itemized deductions and certain exclusions from income to lead to nontaxability by themselves, but high-income returns are more often nontaxable for a combination of reasons, none of which alone would result in nontaxability. Moreover, some items, either singly or in combination, may eliminate “regular tax” liability (i.e., income tax excluding the AMT) but cannot eliminate AMT liability since these items give rise to adjustments or preferences for AMT purposes.

Because they do not generate AMT adjustments or preferences, tax-exempt bond interest (not including private activity bonds), itemized deductions for interest expenses, miscellaneous itemized deductions, casualty or theft losses, and medical expenses (exceeding 7.5% of AGI) could, by themselves, produce nontaxability.

Due to the AMT exemption of $118,100 for joint returns ($75,900 for single and head-of-household returns and $59,050 for returns of married taxpayers filing separately), a return could have been nontaxable even though it included some items that produced AMT adjustments or preferences. ¹² Further, since the starting point for “alternative minimum taxable income” was taxable income for regular tax purposes, a taxpayer could have adjustments and preferences exceeding the AMT exclusion without incurring AMT liability. This situation could occur if taxable income for regular tax purposes was sufficiently negative due to itemized deductions exceeding AGI, such that the taxpayer’s AMT adjustments and preferences are less than the sum of the AMT exclusion and the amount by which regular taxable income is below zero. Note that, because of the AMT, taxpayers may have found it beneficial to report additional deduction items on their tax returns, even if the items did not produce a benefit for regular tax purposes.

Figure F Individual Income Tax Returns With Adjusted Gross Income of $200,000 or More and No Worldwide Income Tax Liability: Percentage of Returns With Primary and Secondary Reasons for No Income Tax Liability, Tax Year 2022

11 Note that before 1991, the listed number of nontaxable returns with expanded income of $200,000 or more was estimated based on samples that were differently constructed than samples made after 1991. Year-to-year differences in the number and percentages of nontaxable returns with expanded income of $200,000 or more may have represented sampling variability, in addition to actual changes in the number of such returns. Beginning with TY 1991, nontaxable returns with expanded income of $200,000 or more were sampled at higher rates, which reduced the sampling variability of these returns and, therefore, provided improved estimates. Thus, the data for returns prior to 1991 are not entirely comparable with data for more recent years. 12 The AMT exclusion phases out above certain levels of “alternative minimum taxable income” based on filing status. However, since taxpayers will have some AMT liability in the phase-out range, the phase-out income is not relevant for nontaxable, high-income returns.

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The most important item in eliminating tax on the 9,997 returns without any worldwide income tax and with AGI of $200,000 or more was total miscellaneous deductions. This was the case for 30.6% (3,058) of these returns (Figure F). The next three categories that most frequently had the largest primary effect in eliminating taxes were: 1) all other tax credits (20.5% or 2,053 returns); 2) medical and dental expense deduction (13.1% or 1,305 returns); and 3) charitable contributions deduction (12.4% or 1,243 returns). The taxes paid deduction, which was limited to a maximum of $10,000 starting in TY 2018, was the most important item on just 0.1% of returns. However, this item was the most frequent secondary reason in reducing regular tax liability for high-AGI returns with no worldwide income tax (22.6% or 2,264 returns). The next three categories that most frequently had the largest secondary effect in eliminating taxes were: 1) capital gains taxed at 0 percent (14.5% or 1,450 returns); 2) child and other dependent credit (13.1% or 1,307 returns); and 3) charitable contributions deduction (11.6% or 1,165 returns).

Of the 11,587 returns without any worldwide income tax and with expanded incomes of $200,000 or more, the most

important item in eliminating tax, on 20.1% of returns, was the medical and dental expense deduction (Figure G). The next three categories that most frequently had the largest primary effect on taxes were: 1) all other tax credits (17.9% or 2,073 returns); 2) the exclusion for interest income on state and local government bonds (“tax-exempt interest”) (17.8% or 2,064 returns); and 3) the foreign-earned income exclusion (15.3% or 1,770 returns). The item that was most frequently the secondary reason in reducing regular tax liability on high-expandedincome returns with no worldwide income tax was capital gains taxed at 0 percent (17.4% or 2,019 returns). The next three categories that most frequently had the largest secondary effect in eliminating taxes were: 1) the child and other dependent credit (11.9% or 1,375 returns); 2) the charitable contributions deduction (9.7% or 1,123 returns); and 3) tax-exempt interest (9.0% or 1,040 returns).

Tables 7 and 8 also classify tax returns by items having the largest and second largest effects in reducing or eliminating U.S. income tax or worldwide income tax, respectively. For returns on which each of the largest effects was identified, the tables show each of the second largest effects as well. ¹³ For example,

Figure G Individual Income Tax Returns With Expanded Income of $200,000 or More and No Worldwide Income Tax Liability: Percentage of Returns With Primary and Secondary Reasons for No Income Tax Liability, Tax Year 2022

13 Tax-exempt interest and the foreign-earned income exclusion were not included in Tables 7 and 8 as possible tax effects before TY 1994. Thus, caution should be exercised in making comparisons with data prior to 1994 and after 1993.

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Table 7 shows that on taxable returns with some U.S. income tax and AGI of $200,000 or more, the nonrefundable child and other dependent credit was the most important item in reducing U.S. income tax liability 29.1% of the time. Where this was the primary item, all other tax credits was the second most important item 18.5% of the time, and on 37.7% of returns, there was no second largest item. The foreign tax credit was the main factor contributing to nontaxability for both AGI returns (61.4% of the time) and expanded income returns with no income tax (52.4% of the time). However, in determining worldwide tax, this no longer has an effect (by definition).

Figure H presents another way of illustrating the importance of selected tax provisions in reducing or eliminating income tax liability. It shows the number of high-expanded-income tax returns with no worldwide income tax utilizing selected tax provisions by the percentage of income reduced. For example, the itemized deduction for medical and dental expenses reduced income by greater than 60% of expanded income on 1,949 (or 16.8%) of the 11,587 returns, but there were no medical and dental expense deductions on 7,323 returns or

63.2%. Conversely, the taxes paid deduction reduced expanded income between 0 and 30% on 7,239 (or 62.5%) of the 11,587 returns, but reduced income by greater than 60% on only nine returns. Tax preferences excluded from AGI, which included tax-exempt interest, reduced income by greater than 60% of expanded income on 1,503 (or 13.0%) of the 11,587 returns. In total, 4,728 returns (40.8%) had their income reduced by tax preferences excluded from AGI. Only the taxes paid deduction (7,330 returns or 63.3%) and the charitable contributions deduction (6,135 returns or 52.9%) were claimed by more returns. Tables 9 and 10 report finer detail of the frequencies of returns by the percentage of income reduced for high-income filers with no U.S. income tax and filers with no worldwide income tax, respectively.

Figure I presents the distribution of high-expanded-income returns by the ratio of “adjusted” worldwide taxable income to expanded income. Taxable income was adjusted for this figure by subtracting the deduction equivalents of tax credits and

Figure H Individual Income Tax Returns With Expanded Income of $200,000 or More and No Worldwide Income Tax: Number of Returns With Itemized Deductions, Credits, and Tax Preferences, by Percentage of Income Reduced, Tax Year 2022

Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of worldwide income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

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Figure I Individual Income Tax Returns With Expanded Income of $200,000 or More: Distribution of Returns by Ratio of Adjusted Worldwide Taxable Income to Expanded Income, Tax Year 2022

other items from taxable income. Thus, the figure shows the extent to which expanded income is reduced before taxes are imposed on the remaining income. The figure illustrates three important facts about high-income tax returns:

• Only a small portion of high-income taxpayers did not pay any worldwide income taxes (0.1%).

• Another group of high-income taxpayers—small but larger than the nontaxable group—could offset a very substantial fraction of income before being subject to tax. This type of high-income taxpayer pays income tax equal to only a small share of his or her income. Such taxpayers may be called “nearly nontaxable.” About 0.3% of high-expandedincome taxpayers with at least some worldwide tax liabilities were able to reduce their adjusted taxable income to less than 25% of their expanded income.

• Overall, most high-income taxpayers were subject to tax on a large share of their income (71.9% of high-expandedincome taxpayers had adjusted taxable income equal to 80% or more of expanded income; and 98.2% had adjusted taxable income equal to 50% or more of expanded income). Figure J shows the distribution of individual income tax returns by worldwide income tax burden. It classifies tax returns by size of expanded income and effective tax rate, i.e., income tax as a percentage of expanded income. This figure illustrates the wide dispersion of effective tax rates for all returns. For example, 3.1% of returns with expanded incomes of $200,000

Statistics of Income Bulletin

or more had a positive amount of worldwide income tax that constituted less than 10% of their expanded income; 10.9% of returns with expanded incomes of at least $200,000 had an effective tax rate of 25% or more. Also, 17.3% had effective tax rates between 20 and 25%. In contrast, only 0.04% of taxpayers with an expanded income between $100,000 and $200,000 had effective tax rates of 20% or more.

By comparing high-income nontaxable returns with taxable returns, some of the different characteristics of nontaxable returns can be deduced. For example, under the expandedincome concept, returns without worldwide income tax were much more likely (40.6%) than taxable returns (20.1%) to have tax-exempt interest, and, when they did, the average amount for nontaxable returns ($159,380) was much higher than the average amount for all taxable returns ($16,659) (Figure K). They were also much more likely to have medical and dental expense deductions (37.0% vs. 2.5%) and nontaxable Social Security benefits (38.1% vs. 20.0%). Nontaxable returns (55.7%) were much less likely than high-income taxable returns (85.9%) to have income from salaries and wages. Tables 5 and 6 show the aggregate frequencies and amounts of all the types of income, the items of tax preference, and the various deductions, credits, and income taxes on high-income returns under both the AGI and expanded income concepts with respect to returns with and without U.S. income tax and worldwide income tax, respectively.

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Figure J Individual Income Tax Returns: Distribution of Returns by Effective Worldwide Income Tax Rates Within Expanded Income Size Groups, Tax Year 2022

Figure K Individual Income Tax Returns With Expanded Income of $200,000 or More: Percentage and Average for Selected Items, by Worldwide Income Tax Status, Tax Year 2022

[Money amounts are in whole dollars]

Tables 1 through 12 present data based on income tax returns for TY 2022, mainly those with income of $200,000 or more (measured in current-year dollars) of AGI or expanded income. Most of the data are shown for taxable and nontaxable returns, both separately and combined. The odd-numbered tables use the U.S. income tax concept to classify returns as taxable or nontaxable, whereas the even-numbered tables use the worldwide income tax concept. In summary, the tables show:

• The numbers of returns under the two tax concepts, crossclassified by broad AGI and expanded-income size classes (Tables 1 and 2)

• The distributions of taxable income as a percentage of AGI and expanded income (Tables 3 and 4)

• The frequencies and amounts of various sources of income, exclusions, deductions, taxes, and tax credits, as well as the relationship between the two income concepts (Tables 5 and 6)

• The frequencies with which various deductions and tax credits are the most important and second most important items in reducing (or eliminating) income tax (Tables 7 and 8)

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Notes: There were 12,672,340 returns with expanded income of $200,000 or more; 11,587 of these returns did not have any worldwide income tax. See Figure M for the derivation of worldwide income tax. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of expanded income.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Statistics of Income Bulletin

• The frequencies with which various itemized deductions, tax credits, and tax preference items occur as certain percentages of income (Tables 9 and 10) and

• The distributions of effective tax rates, i.e., income tax under each definition as a percentage of income, as well as the percentage of income that is subject to preferential tax rates, by broad income-size classes (Tables 11 and 12).

Lerman, Allen H. (March 1977). “High-Income Tax Returns:

1974 and 1975, A Report on High-Income Taxpayers Emphasizing Tax Returns with Little or No Tax Liability.” U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Tax Analysis. Lerman, Allen H. (August 1978). “High-Income Tax Returns:

1975 and 1976, A Report Emphasizing Nontaxable and Nearly Nontaxable Income Tax Returns.” U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Tax Analysis. U.S. Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Sta

tistics of Income—Individual Income Tax Returns for 1977 through 1982 and 1985 through 1988. (For 1977 and 1978, only the number of nontaxable, high-AGI returns was published.) Lerman, Allen H., “High-Income Tax Returns, 1983,” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 1986, Volume 5, Number 4, pp. 31–61. Lerman, Allen H., “High-Income Tax Returns, 1984.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 1987, Volume 6, Number 4, pp. 1–29. Lerman, Allen H., “High-Income Tax Returns for 1989.” Statis tics of Income Bulletin, Spring 1993, Volume 12, Number 4, pp. 23–50. Lerman, Allen H., “High-Income Tax Returns for 1990.” Sta

tistics of Income Bulletin, Winter 1993–1994, Volume 13, Number 3, pp. 104–132. Lerman, Allen H., “High-Income Tax Returns for 1991.” Sta tistics of Income Bulletin, Winter 1994–1995, Volume 14, Number 3, pp. 96–130. Lerman, Allen H., “High-Income Tax Returns for 1992.” Sta

tistics of Income Bulletin, Winter 1995–1996, Volume 15, Number 3, pp. 46–82. Latzy, John, “High-Income Tax Returns for 1993.” Statistics of

Income Bulletin, Winter 1996–1997, Volume 16, Number 3, pp. 64–101; Latzy, John, “High-Income Tax Returns, 1994,” Statistics of

Income Bulletin, Winter 1997–1998, Volume 17, Number 3, pp. 31–69. Cruciano, Therese, “High-Income Tax Returns for 1995,” Statis tics of Income Bulletin, Summer 1998, Volume 18, Number 1, pp. 69–108; Cruciano, Therese, “High-Income Tax Returns for 1996,”

Statistics of Income Bulletin, Winter 1998–1999, Volume 18, Number 3, pp. 7–59. Parisi, Michael, “High-Income Tax Returns for 1997.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Winter 1999–2000, Volume 19, Number 3, pp. 6–58. Balkovic, Brian, “High-Income Tax Returns for 1998.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Winter 2000–2001, Volume 20, Number 3, pp. 5–57. Balkovic, Brian, “High-Income Tax Returns for 1999.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2002, Volume 21, Number 4, pp. 7–58. Balkovic, Brian, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2000.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2003, Volume 22, Number 4, pp. 10–62. Balkovic, Brian, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2001.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Summer 2004, Volume 24, Number 1, pp. 65–117. Balkovic, Brian, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2002,” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2005, Volume 24, Number 4, pp. 6–58. Balkovic, Brian, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2003.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2006, Volume 25, Number 4, pp. 8–57. Balkovic, Brian, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2004.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2007, Volume 26, Number 4, pp. 7–57. Balkovic, Brian, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2005.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2008, Volume 27, Number 4, pp. 16–67. Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2006.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2009, Volume 28, Number 4, pp. 5–53. Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2007.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2010, Volume 29, Number 4, pp. 3–51. Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2008.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2011, Volume 30, Number 4, pp. 5–54. Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2009.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2012, Volume 31, Number 4, pp. 6–61. Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2010.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2013, Volume 32, Number 4, pp. 4–58. Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2011.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Spring 2014, Volume 33, Number 4, pp. 51–110. Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2012.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Summer 2015, Publication 1136, online version only (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/soi-a-inhintid1510.pdf). Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2013.” Statistics

of Income Bulletin, Summer 2016, Publication 1136, online version only (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/soi-a-inhintid1608.pdf). Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2014.” Statistics

Statistics of Income Bulletin

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of Income Bulletin, Summer 2017, Publication 1136, online version only (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/soi-a-inhintid1705.pdf). Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2015.” Statistics of

Income Bulletin, Fall 2018, Publication 1136, online version only (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/soi-a-hint-id1806. pdf). Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2016.” Statistics of

Income Bulletin, Fall 2019, Publication 1136, online version only (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/soi-a-inhi-id1907. pdf). Bryan, Justin “High-Income Tax Returns for 2017,” Statistics of

Income Bulletin, Fall 2020, Publication 1136, online version only (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/p1136--2020.pdf); Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2018.” Statistics of

Income Bulletin, Winter 2022, Publication 1136, online version only (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/p1136--2022. pdf). Bryan, Justin & Avila, Evan, “High-Income Tax Returns for

2019.” Statistics of Income Bulletin, Spring 2023, Publication 1136, online version only (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/ p1136--2023.pdf). Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2020.” Statistics of

Income Bulletin, Winter 2024, Publication 1136, online version only (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/p1136--2024. pdf). Bryan, Justin, “High-Income Tax Returns for 2021.” Statistics of

consumption plus the change, if any, in its net worth. This income concept is referred to as Haig-Simons income (H-S income) as it was named after the two economists who wrote extensively about it [A1]. The H-S income of a household that consumed $25,000 and saved $2,000 in a year would be $27,000. Furthermore, the H-S income of a household that consumed $25,000 and had no additions to savings but had assets that declined in value by $1,000 in a year would be $24,000.

H-S income consists of three broad components: labor income, capital income (income from assets), and income from transfer payments. The major elements of each of these three components are as follows:

Labor income —This includes all forms of employee compensation (including wages and salaries), employee fringe benefits (such as employer-provided health insurance and accrued pension benefits or contributions), and the employer share of payroll taxes (such as Social Security taxes). Labor income also includes the labor share of self-employment income. Expenses of earning labor income would be deducted in arriving at H-S income. Deferred labor income (such as pension benefits) would be counted in the year it was earned, rather than in the year it was received.

Capital income —This includes all income from assets, including interest, dividends, rents, royalties, accrued capital gains (realized or not), the capital income share of self-employment income, and the rental value of consumer durables (most importantly, the rental value of owner-occupied housing). Capital income is measured in real (inflation-adjusted) terms and is the net of real, economic depreciation and all other expenses (which could exceed capital income).

Income Bulletin, Spring 2025, Publication 1136, online version only (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/p1136--2025. pdf).

Congress wanted data on high-income taxpayers classified by an income concept that was more comprehensive than Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), but one that was still based entirely on items already reported on income tax returns. To derive such an income concept, it was necessary to begin with a broad, inclusive concept of income. AGI must then be compared to this broad income concept and the differences (both additions and subtractions) from items reported on tax returns identified.

This appendix begins by defining “Haig-Simons income,” which is a very broad concept of income used by economists and others as a standard. AGI is then compared to Haig-Simons income, and the major differences between the two income concepts are listed. The next section defines “expanded income,” which is a more comprehensive income measure than AGI and is based entirely on tax return data, and the final section explains in some detail the adjustment to income for investment expenses.

Haig-Simons Income The broadest measure of annual income generally used by economists and others is defined as the value of a household’s

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Adjusted Gross Income AGI is the statutory definition of income for U.S. income tax purposes. AGI differs from H-S income by excluding some components of H-S income and by allowing accelerated busi

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Transfer payments —These include payments in cash such as Social Security benefits, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and noncash benefits (such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

For purposes of tax analysis, H-S income should be measured on a pretax basis (the amount that would be earned if there were no federal income tax in place). Most items of income are unaffected, or little affected, by the income tax and so these are reported on a pretax basis. However, certain income items from tax-preferred sources may be reduced because of their preferential treatment. An example is interest from tax-exempt state and local government bonds. The interest rate on tax-exempt bonds is generally lower than the interest rate on taxable bonds of the same maturity and risk, with the difference approximately equal to the tax rate of the typical investor in tax-exempt bonds. Thus, investors in tax-exempt bonds are effectively paying a tax, referred to as an “implicit tax,” and tax-exempt interest as reported is measured on an after-tax, rather than a pretax, basis. Income from all tax-preferred sources should be “grossed up” by implicit taxes to measure H-S income properly.

ness deductions and deductions unrelated to income, as well as by disallowing or limiting certain expenses of earning income and certain losses. In addition, AGI is not “grossed up” for implicit taxes.

The components of H-S income excluded from AGI include most employee fringe benefits, the employer share of payroll taxes, accrued but deferred employee compensation, accrued but unrealized real capital gains, the rental value of consumer durables, nontaxable Social Security benefits, most other cash transfers, all noncash transfers, and the real income of borrowers due to inflation [A2].

Depreciation and certain other expenses allowed in determining AGI may be accelerated (relative to economic depreciation and other costs) in the early years of an investment, thus understating investment income. In later years, however, investment income in AGI will be overstated because depreciation and other accelerated expenses will then be understated. AGI also excludes some expenses not related to earning income, such as contributions to self-employed retirement (Keogh) plans, deductible contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements, the portion of Social Security contributions for self-employed workers that is analogous to the employer share of such contributions for employees, and contributions to medical savings accounts.

AGI generally exceeds H-S income to the extent that expenses of earning income and losses are limited or disallowed. Most of the expenses of earning income are deductible from AGI in calculating taxable income but only if the taxpayer “itemizes” deductions. Expenses incurred in the production of income that are itemized deductions include expenses attributable to a taxpayer’s (passive) investments (for example, as opposed to active participation in a trade or business), including, but not limited to, interest expense incurred in connection with investments in securities [A3].

Although net capital losses reduce economic income, only the first $3,000 of net realized capital losses may be deducted in computing AGI. Any additional realized losses must be carried forward to future years. In a somewhat similar manner, passive losses (from investments in a trade or business in which the taxpayer does not materially participate) can also reduce economic income, but, in computing AGI, they can only be deducted from passive income from other, similar investments (although a larger amount may be deducted when the losses are from rental real estate activities).

Expanded Income Expanded income is meant to be a measure of income that is conceptually closer to H-S income than AGI but is derived entirely from items already reported on income tax returns. Figure L shows the adjustments made to AGI to arrive at expanded income. Since the definition of AGI was changed by legislation several times since 1977, and, after certain reporting requirements also changed, the adjustments differ over the years, as indicated for each item [A4]. Most of these adjustments are relatively straightforward, but the adjustment for investment requires some explanation.

Investment Expenses In measuring H-S income, it generally would be appropriate to deduct all expenses incurred in the production of income, including those related to any income-producing investments, without limit. Investment expenses that exceed investment income would then represent net economic losses. However, such a liberal deduction for investment-related expenses is not necessarily correct when not all income items have been included currently. (Investment income includes interest, dividends, and capital gains.)

If all income has not been included currently, full deduction of investment expenses might represent a mismatching of receipts and expenses and might result in understating income. For example, if a taxpayer borrowed funds to purchase

Figure L Derivation of Expanded Income from Adjusted Gross Income, Tax Years 1977–2022

Adjusted gross income (AGI)

that it does not exceed investment income

• Miscellaneous itemized deductions not subject to the

PLUS: - Excluded capital gains (tax years prior to 1987)

• Tax-exempt interest (1987 and later tax years)

• Nontaxable Social Security benefits (1988 and

later tax years)

• Tax preferences for alternative minimum tax

purposes [A5]

• Foreign-earned income exclusion (1990 and later

tax years)

MINUS: - Unreimbursed employee business expenses (tax years prior to 2018) [A4]

• Nondeductible rental losses (Tax Years 1987 and 1988)

• Moving expense deduction (Tax Years 1987 through

1993. [A4]

• Investment interest expense deduction to the extent

AGI can also exceed H-S income because of differences in the timing of income between the two concepts. For example, a taxpayer may realize more capital gains in a year than they accrue in capital gains. Since AGI includes only realizations of capital gains, whereas H-S income includes only accruals, AGI in this circumstance would exceed H-S income.

2-percent-of-AGI floor (1989 and later tax years)

Finally, just as AGI understates the income of borrowers due to inflation, it overstates the income of lenders, who include bond owners and owners of bank deposits.

EQUALS: o Expanded income Note: Footnotes to this figure are included with the footnotes to Appendix A: Income Concepts, which also includes an explanation of adjusted gross income and expanded income. Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

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Statistics of Income Bulletin

securities, then income would be understated if the taxpayer deducted all interest payments on the loan but did not include as income any accrued gains on the securities. A similar mismatching of income and expenses would occur if investment expenses that should properly be capitalized were deducted when paid. In these instances, a more accurate measure of income might be obtained by postponing the deduction of the expense until the income was recognized for tax purposes.

Additional problems are created when a person with a loan has both income-producing assets, such as securities, and nonincome-producing assets, such as a vacation home or yacht. It is not possible to determine what portion of the interest expense should be attributed to taxable income-producing assets, and, therefore, ought to be deductible against the gross receipts from such taxable assets. Because of these problems, it has been necessary to set arbitrary limits on the amount of investment expenses that are deductible in calculating expanded income.

Investment expenses that have not been deducted in determining AGI generally can appear on a federal individual income tax return in two places. Investment interest expense is accounted for in the calculation of the itemized deduction for interest paid. Deductible investment interest expense is a separate part of the total interest deduction. Other investment expenses, such as management fees, are included in the miscellaneous category of itemized deductions [A5]. Beginning with TY 1987, most types of income-producing expenses included as miscellaneous itemized deductions are only deductible to the extent that their total exceeds 2% of AGI. These were eliminated from Schedule A for TY 2018. To determine expenses that should be deductible in calculating an approximation of H-S income, investment expenses have been defined as deductible investment interest expenses. Other investment expenses could not be separated from the remainder of miscellaneous deductions. Hence, they have not been used in the adjustment for investment expenses.

To the extent that interest expenses do not exceed investment income, they are generally allowed as a deduction in the computation of deductible investment interest expenses and thus expanded income. Investment interest expenses that exceed investment income are not deductible in calculating expanded income. One consequence of this definition is that investment expenses can never turn positive investment income into investment losses. Generally, allowing investment expenses to offset all investment income is generous and tends to understate broadly measured income. However, in some instances, limiting investment expenses to investment income may overstate income by disallowing genuine investment losses.

This appendix discusses two tax concepts used in this article in more detail. The first section provides a summary of the U.S. taxation of worldwide income and the foreign tax credit. The two tax concepts used in this article are then defined in the next section. That section is followed by an explanation of deduction equivalent of credits and other

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tion may be anticipated and reflected in interest rates, tax deductions for nominal interest payments overstate interest costs because part of these payments represents a return of principal to the lender, rather than interest.

[A3] See references and footnote A4.

[A4] For TY 1977, about 50% of net long-term capital gains

were included in AGI. In TY 1978, the inclusion ratio was changed to 40%. This inclusion ratio remained unchanged through TY 1986. Beginning with TY 1987, there was no exclusion allowed for capital gains in computing AGI, and thus this adjustment was not made in computing expanded income for returns for years after TY 1986. Beginning in TY 1987, taxpayers were required to report on their federal income tax returns the amount of their taxexempt interest income from state and local government bonds. Since TY 1987, tax-exempt interest has been included in expanded income. Taxpayers are also required to report Social Security benefits. Since TY 1988, nontaxable Social Security benefits have been included in expanded income. However, if none of a taxpayer’s Social Security benefits are taxable, then gross Social Security benefits are not required to be shown on the income tax return. In such instances, which generally only affect lower- and middle-income taxpayers, Social Security benefits are not included in expanded income. The subtraction of unreimbursed employee business expense (prior to its elimination after TY 2017) and the moving expense deduction is to make the concept of expanded income comparable to that for years prior to TY 1987. All current year moving expenses, beginning with TY 1994, were deducted in the calculation of AGI as a statutory adjustment. Due to subtracting nonlimited miscellaneous deductions and not subtracting the nondeductible rental loss for TY 1989, the expanded income concept for TY 1989 is not strictly comparable to expanded income for TY 1988. Nor is the expanded income concept for TY 1990 strictly comparable to expanded income for TY 1989 because of the addition of the foreignearned income exclusion. Specific details on the definition of expanded income for any given year are available in the reports and publications found in the References section.

[A5] Some income deferrals and accelerated expense deduc

tions may also be involved in income or losses from rental property, from royalties, from partnerships, and from S Corporations, and only the net amounts of which are included in AGI.

[A1] Haig, Robert M. (ed.) (1921). “The Federal Income Tax.”

Columbia University Press, and Simons, Henry C. (1938). “Personal Income Taxation.” University of Chicago Press.

[A2] Borrowers receive income due to inflation because the

real value of debt is reduced by inflation. Even though infla

Statistics of Income Bulletin

items. A final section discusses the possible implications of the use of unaudited tax return data for this article.

U.S. Taxation of Worldwide Income and the Foreign Tax Credit Generally, citizens and residents of the United States, regardless of where they physically reside, must include in income for federal income tax purposes income from all geographic sources. Thus, for example, dividends and interest received from a foreign corporation or income earned working abroad is subject to federal income tax in the same manner as income received from sources inside the United States [B1]. Income from sources outside the United States may also be subject to tax by foreign governments.

To reduce, if not eliminate, the possibility of double taxation of the foreign-source income of U.S. citizens and residents, the federal income tax allows a credit for income taxes paid to foreign governments. The foreign tax credit is generally limited to the amount of (pre-credit) U.S. tax liability attributable to foreign-source income. This limit prevents the foreign tax credit from offsetting the U.S. tax on U.S.-source income.

Due to taxing citizens and residents on a worldwide basis but also allowing a foreign tax credit, some federal income tax returns may report substantial income but little or no U.S. tax liability after credits. This may occur, for example, if a taxpayer has income only from foreign sources, e.g., the taxpayer may live abroad the entire year and have no income-producing assets in the United States. It may also occur if a taxpayer has foreign-source income that exceeds a net loss from U.S. sources and pays income taxes comparable to the U.S. tax to a foreign government [B2].

For taxpayers with income from foreign sources, these procedures understate the taxpayers’ true worldwide income tax liabilities and effective income tax rates. For such taxpayers, it does not seem appropriate to classify U.S. income tax credits for foreign tax payments as reducing tax liabilities. This is particularly true for tax filers who appear to be nontaxable because they do not have any U.S. tax liability, but who have paid foreign income taxes. A more accurate measure of overall income tax burden, as well as the number of nontaxable returns, can be obtained by considering all income taxes—U.S. as well as foreign. Thus, a second tax concept, worldwide income tax, has been used in addition to the traditional U.S. income tax.

Two Tax Concepts Two tax concepts are used in this article to classify tax returns as taxable (i.e., returns showing an income tax liability) or nontaxable (i.e., returns showing no income tax liability) and to measure the tax burdens on taxable returns: U.S. income tax and worldwide income tax. Worldwide income tax is defined for purposes of this article as U.S. income tax plus the foreign tax credits reported on the U.S. income tax return and foreign taxes paid on excluded foreign-earned income (obtained from Form 1116, Foreign Tax Credit). The amount

Statistics of Income Bulletin

of the foreign tax credits and foreign taxes paid on excluded foreign-earned income is used as a proxy for foreign tax liabilities [B3]. The relationship of U.S. income tax to tax items reported on individual income tax returns, and to worldwide income tax, is shown in Figure M.

Comparing Exclusions, Deductions, Tax Credits, and Special Tax Computations To compare the importance of various exclusions, deductions, tax credits, and special tax computations (such as the alternative minimum tax on tax preferences), the different types of items must be placed on the same basis. One way of doing so is to calculate the size of the deduction that would reduce (or increase) income tax by the same amount as a tax credit or special computation. This amount is called the “deduction equivalent” of the tax credit or special computation.

Figure M Derivation of U.S. Individual Income Tax and Worldwide Income Tax Liabilities, Tax Year 2022

Tax at regular rates (tax generated)

PLUS: Additional taxes (such as tax on accumulation distributions from qualified retirement plans, Form 4972)

PLUS: Alternative minimum tax (Form 6251)

PLUS: Excess advance premium tax credit repayment

EQUALS: Income tax before credits

MINUS: Excess advance premium tax credit repayment

MINUS: Tax credits (nonrefundable)

PLUS: Net investment tax

MINUS: Refundable tax credits [1]

EQUALS: U.S. individual income tax

PLUS: Foreign tax credit

PLUS: Foreign taxes paid on excluded foreign-earned income (Form 1116)

EQUALS: Worldwide income tax

[1] Includes the Earned Income Credit, additional child tax credit, refundable American opportunity credit, regulated investment company credit, net premium tax credit, health insurance credit, child and dependent care credit, and qualified sick and family leave credits. Note: See Appendix B: Tax Concepts for further discussion of the information in this figure. Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

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The deduction equivalent of a tax credit or a special tax computation is the difference between the taxable income that, using the ordinary tax rate schedules, would yield the actual tax before the provision in question is considered and the actual tax after the provision. For example, the “deduction equivalent of all tax credits” is equal to the difference between “taxable income that would yield income tax before credits” and “taxable income that would yield income tax after credits.”

Using this method of equating the value of deductions, exclusions, credits, and special tax computations, the order in which the various credits and special tax computations are calculated may affect the value of their deduction equivalents. Because the tax rate schedules are progressive, with successive increments to income taxed at successively higher tax rates, the deduction equivalent of the credit converted last to a deduction equivalent will be larger (for the same amount of a credit) than the item converted first, unless all relevant taxable income amounts are within a single tax-rate bracket.

The deduction equivalents of tax credits shown in Tables 9 and 10 were computed by assuming that deductions and exclusions reduce taxes before credits. As a result, the deduction equivalent of tax credits may be overstated.

Unaudited Data Tax return data used for Statistics of Income (SOI) have been tabulated as they were reported on tax returns that were filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Certain, obvious arithmetic errors have been corrected, and certain adjustments have been made to achieve consistent statistical definitions. Otherwise, the data have not been altered. Specifically, the data do not reflect any changes that either may have or could have been made because of IRS audits. While this is true of data throughout the entire SOI program, it is particularly relevant for high-income tax returns. Because of the greater complexity of these returns, there is a higher probability of error and a broader scope for disagreement about the proper interpretation of tax laws.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Justin Bryan is an economist with the Individual and Tax- Exempt Special Studies Section. This article was prepared under the direction of Michael Strudler, Technical Project Manager, Individual and Tax-Exempt Branch.

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The fact that the data have been drawn from unaudited returns is of even greater importance for those high-income returns that are nontaxable. Almost any audit changes would make such returns taxable. Even where the tax consequences are minor, such returns could be reclassified from nontaxable to taxable, thereby changing the counts of nontaxable returns.

[B1] An exception is that certain income earned abroad may

be excluded from AGI. Any foreign taxes paid on such income are not creditable against U.S. income tax. The tables in this article include such excluded income in expanded income. Foreign taxes paid on such income are reflected in worldwide income tax, as discussed later.

[B2] Although the foreign tax credit is an item of tax prefer ence for AMT purposes, taxpayers below the AMT exclusion thresholds, or with preferences or deductions not subject to AMT, could completely offset pre-credit U.S. income tax liability with foreign tax credits.

[B3] Where foreign tax rates exceed U.S. rates, foreign tax

credits will be less than foreign tax liabilities. In such cases, using foreign tax credits as a proxy for foreign tax liabilities understates worldwide income tax liability. In other cases, when foreign tax credits are for taxes paid on income from previous years, use of foreign tax credits as a proxy may overstate or understate worldwide taxes on current-year income.

Table 1. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability: Number of Returns, by Size of

[1] Includes returns with adjusted gross deficit or with negative expanded income.

Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of U.S. income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, IndividualHigh-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Table 2. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability: Number of Returns, by

[1] Includes returns with adjusted gross deficit or with negative expanded income.

Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of worldwide income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

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Spring 2026 21

Table 3. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or

N/A- Not applicable. Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of U.S. income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Table 4. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of

N/A- Not applicable.

[1] Less than 0.05%

Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of worldwide income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 22

Table 5. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Income, Deductions, Credits, and Tax, Tax Year 2022

[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 23

Table 5. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Income, Deductions, Credits, and Tax, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 24

Table 5. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Income, Deductions, Credits, and Tax, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 25

Table 5. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Income, Deductions, Credits, and Tax, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

[1] Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code permits certain taxpayers to elect to deduct all or part of the cost of certain qualifying property in the year they place it in service, instead of taking depreciation deductions over a specified recovery period.

[2] Includes tax-exempt interest and tax preference items subject to alternative minimum tax.

[3] Excess advance premium tax credit (PTC) repayment is included in income tax before credits on Form 1040 but is subtracted here because it is not considered a part of income tax since it is not based on earned income.

[4] For prior-year returns only. Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of U.S. income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect. Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 26

Table 6. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Income, Deductions, Credits, and Tax, Tax Year 2022

[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 27

Table 6. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Income, Deductions, Credits, and Tax, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 28

Table 6. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Income, Deductions, Credits, and Tax, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 29

Table 6. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Income, Deductions, Credits, and Tax, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

• Estimate should be used with caution because of the small number of sample returns on which it is based. ** Data combined to avoid disclosure of information for specific taxpayers.

[1] Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code permits certain taxpayers to elect to deduct all or part of the cost of certain qualifying property in the year they place it in service instead of taking depreciation deductions over a specified recovery period.

[2] Includes tax-exempt interest and tax preference items subject to alternative minimum tax.

[3] For returns without worldwide income tax, refundable credits offset the amount of foreign taxes paid.

[4] Excess advance premium tax credit (PTC) repayment is included in income tax before credits on Form 1040 but is subtracted here because it is not considered a part of income tax since it is not based on earned income.

[5] For prior-year returns only. Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of worldwide income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect. Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 30

Table 7. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the Largest Tax Effect and by Item With the Second Largest Tax Effect, Tax Year 2022

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 31

Table 7. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the Largest Tax Effect and by Item With the Second Largest Tax Effect, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Spring 2026 32

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 7. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the Largest Tax Effect and by Item With the Second Largest Tax Effect, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Spring 2026 33

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 7. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the Largest Tax Effect and by Item With the Second Largest Tax Effect, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Spring 2026 34

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 7. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the Largest Tax Effect and by Item With the Second Largest Tax Effect, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Spring 2026 35

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 7. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the Largest Tax Effect and by Item With the Second Largest Tax Effect, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 36

Table 7. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the Largest Tax Effect and by Item With the Second Largest Tax Effect, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Spring 2026 37

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 7. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the Largest Tax Effect and by Item With the Second Largest Tax Effect, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Spring 2026 38

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 7. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the Largest Tax Effect and by Item With the Second Largest Tax Effect, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Spring 2026 39

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 7. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the Largest Tax Effect and by Item With the Second Largest Tax Effect, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

** Data combined to avoid disclosure of information for specific taxpayers.

[1] For taxable returns only; this does not include any possible effect on AMT.

[2] Investment interest expense deduction only has an effect when using the adjusted gross income concept.

[3] All other tax credit includes the portion of refundable credits that are used to offset income tax before credits.

[4] Tax-exempt interest, foreign-earned income exclusion, AMT tax preference, and nontaxable Social Security benefits only have an effect when using the expanded income concept.

[5] Less than 0.05% Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of U.S. income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 40

Table 8. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 41

Table 8. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the

Spring 2026 42

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 8. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the

Spring 2026 43

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 8. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the

Spring 2026 44

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 8. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the

Spring 2026 45

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 8. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 46

Table 8. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the

Spring 2026 47

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 8. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the

Spring 2026 48

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 8. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the

Spring 2026 49

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 8. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number and Percentage of Returns Classified by Item With the

** Data combined to avoid disclosure of information for specific taxpayers.

[1] For taxable returns only; this does not include any possible effect on AMT.

[2] Investment interest expense deduction only has an effect when using the adjusted gross income concept.

[3] All other tax credit includes the portion of refundable credits that are used to offset income tax before credits.

[4] Tax-exempt interest, foreign-earned income exclusion, AMT tax preference, and nontaxable Social Security benefits only have an effect when using the expanded income concept.

[5] Less than 0.05%.

Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of worldwide income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 50

Table 9. Individual Income Tax Returns Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number of Returns With Itemized Deductions, Credits, and Tax Preferences, by Percentage of Income Reduced, Tax Year 2022

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 51

Table 9. Individual Income Tax Returns Without U.S. Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number of Returns With Itemized Deductions, Credits, and Tax Preferences, by

** Data combined to avoid disclosure of information for specific taxpayers. Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of U.S. income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect. Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 52

Table 10. Individual Income Tax Returns Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number of Returns With Itemized Deductions, Credits, and Tax Preferences, by Percentage of Income Reduced, Tax Year 2022

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 53

Table 10. Individual Income Tax Returns Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability and With Income of $200,000 or More Under Alternative Concepts: Number of Returns With Itemized Deductions, Credits, and Tax Preferences, by Percentage of Income Reduced, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

** Data combined to avoid disclosure of information for specific taxpayers. Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of worldwide income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 54

Table 11. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability: Number and Percentage of Returns by Effective Tax Rate, and by Size of Income Under Alternative Concepts, Tax Year 2022

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 55

Table 11. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability: Number and Percentage of Returns by Effective Tax Rate, and by Size of Income Under Alternative Concepts, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 56

Table 11. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability: Number and Percentage of Returns by Effective Tax Rate, and by Size of Income Under Alternative Concepts, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 57

Table 11. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability: Number and Percentage of Returns by Effective Tax Rate, and by Size of Income Under Alternative Concepts, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 58

Table 11. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without U.S. Income Tax Liability: Number and Percentage of Returns by Effective Tax Rate, and by Size of Income Under Alternative Concepts, Tax Year 2022—Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

** Data combined to avoid disclosure of information for specific taxpayers.

[1] Includes returns with adjusted gross deficit or with negative expanded income.

[2] Less than 0.05%

Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of U.S. income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 59

Table 12. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability: Number and Percentage of Returns by Effective Tax Rate, and by Size of Income Under Alternative Concepts, Tax Year 2022

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Footnotes at the end of tables.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 60

Table 12. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability: Number and Percentage of Returns by Effective Tax Rate, and by Size of Income Under Alternative Concepts, Tax Year 2022 —Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Spring 2026 61

Footnotes at the end of tables.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 12. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability: Number and Percentage of Returns by Effective Tax Rate, and by Size of Income Under Alternative Concepts, Tax Year 2022 —Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Spring 2026 62

Footnotes at the end of tables.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 12. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability: Number and Percentage of Returns by Effective Tax Rate, and by Size of Income Under Alternative Concepts, Tax Year 2022 —Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

Spring 2026 63

Footnotes at the end of tables.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Table 12. Individual Income Tax Returns With and Without Worldwide Income Tax Liability: Number and Percentage of Returns by Effective Tax Rate, and by Size of Income Under Alternative Concepts, Tax Year 2022 —Continued

[All figures are estimates based on samples]

** Data combined to avoid disclosure of information for specific taxpayers.

[1] Includes returns with adjusted gross deficit or with negative expanded income.

[2] Less than 0.05%.

Notes: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. See Appendix A: Income Concepts of this article for a discussion of adjusted gross income and expanded income. See also Appendix B: Tax Concepts for a discussion of worldwide income tax. Starting in 2009, the portion of refundable credits that offset income taxes before credits was factored in to determine tax liability. As a result, data may not be comparable to data in Tax Years 2007 and 2008 published tables. Prior to 2007, the portion of refundable credits used to offset income taxes had no effect.

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Individual High-Income Tax Returns, April 2026

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Spring 2026 64

Publication 1136 (Rev. 5-2026) Catalog Number 46996F Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov