Audit Representation

IRS audit rates are rising dramatically for all types of taxpayers. Within the past few years, the IRS audit rate for self-employed and individual taxpayers has risen more than 25%, and the audit rate for high-income taxpayers has doubled.

Additionally, the IRS is currently in the process of randomly selecting and examining thousands of tax returns annually, seeking information that will help pinpoint tax compliance problems in the future.

IRS audits generally fall into one of the following three categories:

• Office Audits
• Correspondence
• Audits Field Audits (at your business or home office)

Typically, the audit process begins when you receive a letter stating that your tax return has been selected for an examination.

The goal of the IRS audit process is to increase compliance with the tax laws.  Many times, the effect of such compliance results in additional tax revenue collected by the government.

While IRS agents are trained to be fair, they are also told to err on the side of the government on matters that can go either way (eg., gray areas of the law).

For instance, if your documentation is not the greatest and the IRS auditor in not firmly convinced that you paid the business expenses you claimed on your tax return, the auditor is trained to disallow (throw out) those deductions.

In many instances, we can assemble third party evidence, prepare declarations and obtain testimony to support your deductions during an audit reconsideration, a tax appeal or in the United States Tax Court.