NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Just over 1.2 million individual income tax returns were audited in fiscal year 2005, according to a report released late Friday afternoon by the Internal Revenue Service.

That represents a 21 percent increase from a year earlier. That follows a 19 percent increase in audits in 2004.

The IRS also noted that the number of audits of high-income taxpayers -- defined as those with income of $100,000 or more -- reached 219,208, the highest figure in 10 years.

A table detailing individual return audits showed that the income groups with the highest percentage of audits were taxpayers who reported income under $25,000 and taxpayers who reported income between $100,000 and $200,000. Approximately 1.5 percent of returns reporting income under $25,000 were audited; while 1.41 percent of returns reporting income between $100,000 and $200,000 were audited.

The IRS was not available to comment on the report.

_________________________

• Think you pay a lot in taxes?
• 5 audit red flags
• Fighting the IRS