Hints to Survive an IRS Tax Audit
Posted by alan alan on Tuesday, April 24, 2012
A lot of people feel scared and often do nothing when they receive a notice from the Internal Revenue Service that you are being audited. This will cause the IRS filing a notice of deficiency against you and the next thing you know is that the IRS are garnishing your bank accounts or wages.Thus , do not neglect the IRS, make use of tax audit help by opening up those envelopes and getting in touch with them back (click here to know more about this). Let them recognize you will get in touch with a tax professional to advise you regarding your audit. This will get you additional time.
Every agent must give you their name and badge number when you do call the IRS. It is very important to write down their badge number, the date and time of day that you called. You have to document all of your contacts with the IRS.
Find out why the IRS is auditing your tax return. Are they auditing you due to losses on a Schedule C Tax Form or are they looking at your rental losses? From time to time the IRS notice will even tell you what information they are searching for.
Start gathering your original source documents as soon as possible. People will wait until a day or two before their meeting with the IRS before gathering their documents. On the other hand, collecting your records can take much time and you want to ensure that you do not neglect anything.
Prepare your records before your meeting with the IRS. The worst thing that you can do is to just give them a shoebox of receipts and records. This will bring about two things to happen. First of all, the IRS agent's job is not to sort and prepare your records, so they will simply neglect your shoe box. Next, the IRS will become disappointed and will begin to look at other years to audit.
Do not volunteer any information when meeting with the IRS. The IRS agents like to have the taxpayer at the audit meeting because of the fact that they know that the average person talks too much. This commonly brings about providing the IRS agent with information that will be hazardous to your audit.
As long as you are missing a receipt or a check stub, let the IRS know and tell them that you are trying to get another copy from the bank or the store where you bought the item. Also ask the IRS what you are able to give them if you cannot get the original receipt or check. As long as you purchased a computer and deducted the costs on your tax return and are not able to discover the receipt, then ask the store for a letter stating that you bought a laptop.
Remember that the IRS is a person also and always be well-mannered and courteous to the IRS agent. The last thing you want to happen is for the IRS to make a note in your file that you are a problem person.
IRS tax audit is often very challenging, expensive and often you will only get one meeting with the IRS agent so make the most of your meeting (read more here). It is worth the further cost of having a tax expert go with you to the audit but make sure the person is trained.