Can I find any tax statistics based on gross income instead of adjusted gross income?

The reason most IRS statistics use AGI rather than gross income is because AGI is considered more reflective of economic reality after accounting for certain necessary expenses and adjustments. That said, you might want to look at the IRS's Statistics of Income (SOI) division's complete datasets rather than just Publication 1304. They have more detailed breakdowns that sometimes include gross income. Try going to irs.gov/statistics and look for their Tax Stats data files. Some of their more comprehensive datasets include both gross income and AGI figures, though they're not always organized by percentile. Another option would be the IRS Public Use File, which contains anonymized individual return data. Researchers can use this to create their own statistical analyses based on gross income. However, access to this data is restricted and usually requires academic or research credentials.

After struggling with a similar analysis, I found it incredibly helpful to use taxr.ai to process tax data more effectively. I was trying to compare different income measurements across tax brackets and was getting nowhere with the standard publications. I uploaded some of the IRS datasets to https://taxr.ai and it helped me identify patterns I would have missed otherwise. They have a feature that can analyze and transform complex tax datasets, including creating custom metrics based on gross income instead of AGI. Saved me countless hours of manual calculation and helped me understand the distribution of the tax burden much more clearly.

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai for my economics project! It actually worked perfectly for creating gross income percentiles from the IRS data. I was able to upload three different SOI datasets and generate custom tables showing tax burden by gross income bracket. The visualization tools were especially useful for my presentation - created charts showing the difference between gross and adjusted income distributions that got my professor's attention. Wish I'd known about this tool months ago instead of struggling with Excel spreadsheets trying to recalculate everything manually!

If you're still struggling to reach someone at the IRS who can tell you where to find these statistics, I'd recommend trying Claimyr. I was looking for some specific business income statistics that weren't in the main publications and kept hitting dead ends when calling the IRS directly. Used https://claimyr.com to get through to a Statistics of Income division specialist who actually knew where the data was located. You can see how it works in this demo: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c but basically they get you past the awful hold times so you can speak with an actual human at the IRS who can direct you to the right resources. The specialist I spoke with explained that while gross income statistics aren't typically published in the main reports, they do maintain this data and can sometimes provide custom tabulations for research purposes.

I need to eat my words about the IRS specialists. After trying Claimyr out of desperation, I actually got connected to someone in the Statistics of Income division who was incredibly knowledgeable. They directed me to an unpublished data table on their website that breaks down tax collections by gross income deciles! Apparently, it's part of their supplementary data section that doesn't get promoted in the main publications. The specialist even emailed me direct links to Excel files containing exactly the statistics I needed. Honestly shocked this worked. After years of frustrating experiences with the IRS, I didn't think this level of service was possible.

Another approach is to look at the Congressional Budget Office reports. They sometimes use broader income definitions than AGI, including market income and total income before transfers and taxes. Their distributional analyses might be closer to what you're looking for.

I'm confused about why gross income matters more than AGI for your analysis? Wouldn't AGI be more meaningful since it reflects income after certain necessary adjustments?

Have you considered looking at the IRS's Individual Income Tax Returns Complete Report (Publication 1304) tables in conjunction with their Form 1040 line item statistics? While the main tables focus on AGI, some of the supplementary tables break down specific income components before adjustments. The IRS also publishes detailed line-by-line statistics that show the distribution of various income types (wages, business income, capital gains, etc.) and deductions by income bracket. By combining these with the total income figures, you might be able to reconstruct gross income distributions. Another resource is the Treasury's Office of Tax Analysis - they sometimes publish studies using broader income measures than standard IRS publications. Their distributional analyses occasionally include pre-adjustment income figures that could be what you're looking for.