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Amid the agency’s turmoil this year, the Internal Revenue Service has some good news from 2024 regarding service and collections.

The agency helped taxpayers on 62.2 million occasions in FY24, up 3.2% over the prior fiscal year, and took in a new high in revenue, according to its latest annual Data Book detailing agency activities from Oct. 1, 2023, to last Sept. 30.

IRS toll-free customer service lines provided live telephone assistance to almost 20 million callers during the fiscal year, up some 11% from 2023. At Taxpayer Assistance Centers, the agency helped more than 2 million taxpayers in person, an increase of almost 26% over FY2023.

For the first time, revenue collected exceeded $5 trillion ($5.1 trillion), an increase of almost 9% compared to the prior fiscal year total.

The Data Book gives a fiscal year overview of the agency’s operations, including returns received, revenue collected, taxpayer services provided, tax returns examined (audits), efforts to collect unpaid taxes and other details. Among other FY24 highlights, the IRS:

• Launched more digital tools than it had during the previous 20 years. Online offerings saw more than 2 billion electronic taxpayer assistance transactions, 47% more than in FY23. The most popular features were requests for transcripts and Where’s My Refund? Overall, IRS.gov registered nearly 690 million individual visits with 1.7 billion page views.
• Processed more than 266 million returns and other forms from individuals, businesses and tax-exempt organizations; received almost 4.6 billion information returns; and issued close to $553 billion in refunds.
• Closed 505,514 tax return audits, resulting in $29 billion in recommended additional tax.

The net collections — federal taxes that have been reported or assessed but not paid and returns that have not been filed — totaled almost $77.6 billion, an increase of 13.6% compared to FY23. The agency collected more than $16 billion through installment agreements, an increase of more than 12% compared to the prior fiscal year.
The Data Book also covers statistics on Direct File, taxpayer attitude surveys about satisfaction with the IRS and “acceptable” levels of cheating on taxes, and applications for tax-exempt status, among other topics.

Total postsecondary spring enrollment grew 3.2% year-over-year, according to a report.

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center published the latest edition of its Current Term Enrollment Estimates series, which provides final enrollment estimates for the fall and spring terms.

The report found that undergraduate enrollment grew 3.5% and reached 15.3 million students, but remains below pre-pandemic levels (378,000 less students). Graduate enrollment also increased to 7.2%, higher than in 2020 (209,000 more students).

(Read more: Undergraduate accounting enrollment rose 12%)

Community colleges saw the largest growth in enrollment (5.4%), and enrollment increased for all undergraduate credential types. Bachelor’s and associate programs grew 2.1% and 6.3%, respectively, but remain below pre-pandemic levels. 

Most ethnoracial groups saw increases in enrollment this spring, with Black and multiracial undergraduate students seeing the largest growth (10.3% and 8.5%, respectively). The number of undergraduate students in their twenties also increased. Enrollment of students between the ages of 21 and 24 grew 3.2%, and enrollment for students between 25 and 29 grew 5.9%.

For the third consecutive year, high vocational public two-years had substantial growth in enrollment, increasing 11.7% from 2023 to 2024. Enrollment at these trade-focused institutions have increased nearly 20% since pre-pandemic levels.

Jordan Vonderhaar/Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar/

The Internal Revenue Service has released Notice 2025-27, which provides interim guidance on an optional simplified method for determining an applicable corporation for the corporate alternative minimum tax.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 amended Sec. 55 to impose the CAMT based on the “adjusted financial statement income” of an “applicable corporation” for taxable years beginning in 2023. 

Among other details, proposed regs provide that “applicable corporation” means any corporation (other than an S corp, a regulated investment company or a REIT) that meets either of two average annual AFSI tests depending on financial statement net operating losses for three taxable years and whether the corporation is a member of a foreign-parented multinational group.

Prior to the publication of any final regulations relating to the CAMT, the Treasury and the IRS will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking. Notice 2025-27 will be in IRB: 2025-26, dated June 23.