The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released Filing Characteristics and Examination Results for Small Business Corporate Returns (2010-30-067):

Between January 2005 and December 2009, the number of corporate returns processed annually by the IRS fell 7%, from almost 2.2 million to approximately 2 million. Despite the decrease in the number of filings, the amount of income taxes reported by corporate returns is significant. In Processing Year 2009, IRS records show that approximately $11 billion in corporate income taxes was reported from about 542,000 corporate returns.

One factor that may be contributing to the modest decline in corporate return filings is the popularity of organizing a business as a partnership or S corporation, which allows the partners and shareholders of these entities to avoid double taxation on business profits. According to the IRS, the number of partnership and S corporation filings is expected to increase by 49% and 39%, respectively, between 2006 and 2014.