0521 Publ 5527 (PDF) — verbatim text

Official source: IRS Forms, Instructions & Publications (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5527.pdf), retrieved 2026-10-03. U.S. Government work (17 U.S.C. § 105).

Individual Income Tax Returns, Preliminary Data, Tax Year 2019¶

This OneSheet presents selected income and tax items from individual income tax returns using preliminary data for Tax Year 2019 and comparable data for Tax Year 2018. The preliminary statistics in this data release are based on a stratified random sample of individual income tax returns. These preliminary estimates are intended to represent a full year of taxpayer reporting based on returns processed for tax administration purposes from January to late September of 2020. To release more complete and accurate statistics that are closer to final ones, we introduced a new methodology modifying the preliminary data by applying a rolling 3-year average for the table in this release. For each AGI class cell, the rates of change from preliminary to final data for each of the prior 3 years were calculated and then averaged. This average was then applied to the current year preliminary data to calculate the estimated preliminary data. The totals were then created from the various cell parts. Figure A shows the results of using this methodology for Tax Year 2018 Preliminary data compared to the final 2018 data.

Figure A. Individual Income Tax R [Money amounts are in thousands of dollars]	Returns: Preliminary and		Final Data, Tax Year 2018		8
Item	Preliminary 2018	Preliminary 2018	Final 2018	Final 2018	Percentage diference	Percentage diference
Item	Number of returns	Amount	Number of returns	Amount	Number of returns	Amount
Number of returns	153,754,470	N/A	153,774,296	N/A	[2]	[3]
Adjusted gross income (less defcit)	N/A	11,673,054,247	N/A	11,643,439,106	[3]	−0.3
Salaries and wages	126,827,501	7,951,206,405	126,830,048	7,907,550,652	[2]	−0.5
Taxable interest	46,633,412	126,351,907	46,558,530	128,582,739	−0.2	1.8
Ordinary dividends	28,770,064	327,525,774	28,702,055	321,070,381	−0.2	−2.0
Business or profession net income less loss	26,560,671	346,314,108	26,556,131	348,745,841	[2]	0.7
Net capital gain	17,673,567	944,075,107	17,616,307	943,963,810	−0.3	[2]
Net capital gain loss	7,809,806	17,087,795	7,810,026	17,105,832	[2]	0.1
Taxable income from IRA distributions, pensions and annuities	34,688,792	1,087,335,678	34,701,850	1,087,228,437	[2]	[2]
Taxable social security benefts	21,896,256	338,542,660	21,792,987	337,046,241	−0.5	−0.4
Total statutory adjustments	37,724,433	140,616,328	37,761,829	141,838,840	0.1	0.9
Total standard deduction	134,548,159	2,261,297,904	134,271,137	2,253,032,601	−0.2	−0.4
Total itemized deductions (after limitation)	17,140,581	642,992,670	17,532,592	648,881,712	2.3	0.9
Taxable income	121,047,254	8,953,867,589	120,916,002	8,941,445,098	−0.1	−0.1
Income tax before credits	120,524,816	1,663,185,991	120,367,473	1,651,822,411	−0.1	−0.7
Total tax credits	59,094,063	141,059,753	59,066,955	137,806,298	[2]	−2.3
Total refundable credits	36,998,927	109,644,166	37,035,729	109,438,818	0.1	−0.2
Total income tax	100,463,475	1,544,985,400	100,424,240	1,538,749,447	[2]	−0.4
Total tax liability	105,515,595	1,623,630,022	105,480,887	1,617,983,398	[2]	−0.3

[1] Includes both Schedule D and Form 1040 capital gain distributions.

[2] Less than 0.05 percent.

[3] Percentage not computed.

SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, April 2021.

Exceptions & meaning →

Highlights of the Data¶

For Tax Year 2019, taxpayers filed 159.7 million U.S. individual income tax returns, which were filed primarily in 2020, an increase of 3.9 percent from the 153.8 million returns filed for Tax Year 2018.
For 2019, adjusted gross income (AGI) increased 4.2 percent to $12.2 trillion. This increase in AGI was reflected in increases in most components of income, including increases in taxable interest (25.8 percent), salaries and wages (5.2 percent), taxable social

security income (4.3 percent), income from taxable individual retirement arrangements (IRAs) and pensions and annuities (2.7 percent), sole proprietorship net income less loss (1.9 percent), net capital gains (1.8 percent), and ordinary dividends (1.3 percent).

Taxable income increased by 4.4 percent to $9.3 trillion for 2019. Similarly, total income tax increased by 4.2 percent to $1.6 trillion, and total tax liability increased by 4.0 percent to $1.7 trillion.

Continued on next page.

Tax Statistics Publication 5527 (5–2021) Catalog Number 37498K Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov

Exceptions & meaning →

Individual Income Tax Returns, Preliminary Data, Tax Year 2019¶

Average AGI reported on all 2019 individual income tax returns was $76,152, a small increase from the 2018 amount of $75,920 (0.3 percent). Average taxable income (for those returns with taxable income) was $74,335 in 2019, a 0.5-percent increase from the 2018 amount of $73,970. Average income tax for taxable returns for 2019 was $15,377 about the same as 2018 when it was $15,379.

Individual Income Tax Returns: Selected Amounts, Preliminary Tax Year 2019 and Preliminary Tax Year 2018 with Percent Change

0 $2T $4T $6T $8T $10T $12T

Adjusted gross income (less deficit)

4.2%

Total tax credits

Partnership and S corporation net income less loss

Ordinary dividends

Net capital gain

Business or profession net income

less loss (Schedule C)

Taxable income from individual retirement

arrangement (IRA) distributions,

pensions and annuities

Total refundable credits

Total tax liability

Total income tax

Taxable Social Security benefits

Taxable income

Salaries and wages

Total standard deduction

Total statutory adjustments

Taxable interest

Qualified business income deduction

Components of Adjusted Gross Income

0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

2019

2018

and wages

interest

Social Security

income

from individual

proprietorship

net income

capital

gains

dividends

retirement arrangement (IRA) distributions, pensions and annuities

less loss

Tax Statistics Publication 5527 (5–2021) Catalog Number 37498K Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov

Exceptions & meaning →