Did you recently get an IRS Tax Audit Notice? Not to worry!
If you have received an IRS tax audit notice, do not panic, this is not the end of the world. Fresh Start Tax has a combined 205 years of professional tax experience and over 60 years of working directly for the IRS in the local, district and regional offices of the IRS.
Persons receiving these tax audit notices are usually freaked out when calling our office. Just relax and take a deep breath, it is not going to be as bad as you think as long as a true tax professional is handling your case.
There are generally two types of IRS tax audits, office or field audits and mail correspondence audits.
Last year’s results from IRS tax audits nationwide:
1. Total field audits comprised of over 391,000 tax audits
2. IRS mail correspondence comprised of 1,173,069
3. Bearing this in mind your odds of a tax audit are 1.11%
IRS field and tax audits are usually done in large parts by office auditors that work in IRS field offices. These are conducted at the IRS office in your town or area. These are usually small dollar audits.
Large dollar cases are audited by Revenue Agents highly trained and seasoned IRS Agents. If you have a Field Agent requesting a tax audit it is always best interested to be professionally represented. These types of audits and last two days up to several weeks. We have had agents work several days in our office. You should never have the Agent conduct the audit at your home or place of business.
If you are having a mail correspondence tax audit you likely got a notice from either the IRS’s Automated Underreporter or the Correspondence Examination (Exam) Unit.
For an Automated Underreporter or AUR a notice is sent when differences are detected between information you report on your tax return and information a third party, such as an employer or bank — reported on a Form W-2 or 1099. AUR will issue Notice CP-2501 or Notice CP-2000. You’ll see this on the upper right corner of the notice.
This type of mail exam will often ask for proof of items you’ve taken as a deduction or claimed as a credit on your return. An exam uses several different letters to contact taxpayers about such differences, but the most common are the CP-75 and a 566 Letter. You’ll see this on the upper right corner of the notice.
Some important insight that may be helpful to you: If your tax return is very clean, do the tax audit yourself. If you feel you fudged on your tax return do not dare represent yourself.
Tax professionals have ways and methods to get the IRS to accept some issues because they understand the settlement techniques of IRS. A key point to remember is that the Agent reviewing your tax return may feel they want to pick up other tax years besides the year that is actually open for the tax audit. This is something you do not want to happen. Once again a good tax professional can help avoid this type of situation.
Once you receive the tax audit notice it is prudent to bring your notice to tax professional along with a copy of your tax return and your tax records supporting the years in question. Let the tax professional conduct a mini audit to determine the strength and weakness of the case. From there you can develop a strategy to best handle the case.
Lastly, if you are going to owe monies to the IRS, a good tax professional can work out a tax settlement to pay the IRS back taxes without disturbing your life style.
In looking for your tax professional always check the credibility, the credentials, the experience and whether the person has worked with the IRS.
If the person is a seasoned veteran and a former IRS Agent your chance of success is high and it will take the worry out of your life.
You can always appeal any findings that IRS may send your way so never get caught up with the first go round. If you are in need of a seasoned veteran and former IRS Agent to assist you in your IRS Audit, contact Fresh Start Tax today. We can reduce the impact of your Tax problem on your personal and financial life.
