Taxation & Estate Planning

Preclude that IRS Audit

By Darrin Mish

An IRS audit can be a nightmare.  Depending on how it pans out, it may leave you broke.  Furthermore, the tax code changes quite frequently over the years, so it can be difficult staying on top of things and avoiding the mistakes that can make your case auditable when making your tax returns.  So if you want to stop an IRS audit, here are some ways to do so.

My first tip is to get professional help in preparing your taxes, such as from an accountant.  As I said, the rules in the tax code changes ever so frequently.  It takes a true professional to understand where you can get away with exaggerating and where you need to play by the rules.  Of course you can prepare and file your own returns. But if you don't want to be audited, get some professional assistance. It would probably only cost you some $40 or so.

The second tip is to use fibs sparingly and wisely.  Admittedly, most people stretch the truth somewhat when filing their tax returns.  But if you make some unbelievable claims, that would only serve to bring you into the radar screen of the IRS.  The more you exaggerate the truth, the better the chances that you will get a call from the IRS.

Did you know that if you are married and you make a separate filing from your spouse, it would raise suspicions from the IRS?  Although it is not illegal for a married taxpayer to make separate returns it will raise a red flag.  If you combine this red flag with other common red flags, the possibility of being audited gets higher.  The main reason why a married person would file separately is to hide income or other assets from the IRS, although there are also many reasonable and logical reasons why this would be done as well.  So you can technically file separate returns from that of your spouse but make sure it is for legitimate reasons that you can back up.

You will almost certainly be the focus of IRS attention when you declare a charitable donation that is not in proportion to your income.  We all know that charitable donations are an excellent tax write-off, but if you are donating thousands of dollars, while only bringing home a few thousand dollars yourself, you will almost certainly get audited.

While this list is far from being all-inclusive, if you steer clear of these normal traps, you can stop IRS audit before it has a chance to ruin your life.

Darrin T. Mish is a veteran, nationally recognized tax attorney who has focused on providing IRS help to taxpayers for over a decade. He regularly travels the country training other attorneys, CPAs and enrolled agents on how to handle their toughest cases with the IRS. He is highly ranked among the top attorneys in the country, with an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell and a perfect 10 on Avvo.com. Martindale-Hubbell has also honored him with a listing in their Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. He is a member of the American Society of IRS Problem Solvers and the Tax Freedom Institute. With clients on every continent but Antarctica, he has what it takes to solve your IRS problems no matter where you live in the world. If you would like more information about his practice and how he can help you, please call his office at (813) 229-7100 or toll free at 1-888-GET-MISH.

Preclude that IRS Audit is a post from: IRS Tax Problem Solver Blog - IRS Help

Full post as published by IRS Problem Solver Blog on February 22, 2010 (boomark / email).