The mere act of placing the envelope that contains a tax return into a mailbox may be a cause of stress for most taxpayers. None of us want to do anything that will alert the IRS to take a closer look at our tax returns. IRS examinations, or “audits” as they...
Tax Audit
SOME FACTS ABOUT IRS AUDITS
The IRS audited approximately 1.0 million tax returns in Calendar Year 2017. This was less than 1% of all returns, approximately 0.5 percent. The IRS conducted 74.8 percent of Fiscal Year 2018 through correspondence audits. Of these 1.0 million audits of tax...
HOW THE IRS USES AUTOMATION TO REVIEW TAX RETURNS
While the IRS does not have the manpower that it had 20 years ago, there are certain taxpayer actions that can trigger an audit by the Internal Revenue Service. As technology continues to evolve at a significant rate, the IRS has increased its use of automated...
IRS UNDERSTATES COMPLIANCE EFFORTS USING “REAL” AND “UNREAL” AUDITS
The National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA) has published several opinions about the issue of “real” vs. “unreal” audits. Under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) § 7602(a)(1), the IRS has the authority to examine any books, papers, records, or other data that may be...