In an American Action Forum (AAF) tracker update, Director of Regulatory Policy Dan Goldbeck records the cost of complying with Internal Revenue Service paperwork using data on Information Collection Requirements from the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. For this edition of the tracker, data as of April 15, 2025, are compared to the snapshot of costs compiled annually by AAF on Tax Days going back to 2017.

An excerpt:

For the second year in a row, the overall hour count for IRS paperwork declined – albeit relatively slightly. Compared to the total from this time last year, IRS estimates that its paperwork requirements involve roughly 160 million fewer hours to complete. While this figure may sound daunting in absolute terms, it represents a roughly 2 percent decrease. Additionally, the IRS total still exceeds those seen on Tax Day during 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Read the Analysis.