Jonathan Clement's Blog: The Dreaded Letter: Tax Audit

Ted

FYI: WHEN I CHAT with clients about the IRS and mention audits, many turn white with fright. To alleviate angst, I explain that years of underfunding have forced an understaffed IRS to significantly scale back its enforcement efforts. But my reassurances are insufficient to assuage the fears of some clients, so I alert them to tactics that can make audits less traumatic and expensive
Regards,
Ted
http://www.humbledollar.com/2018/04/the-dreaded-letter/

msf

" I explain that years of underfunding have forced an understaffed IRS to significantly scale back its enforcement efforts."

AFAIK, that's reduced the number of audits, and hence the probability of facing an audit. But it hasn't scaled back the audit itself. So whether your odds of being audited are 1% or 1/2%, scaled back enforcement won't affect the process once the IRS comes calling on you.

Further, this blog is describing face to face audits. Only a quarter of audits are done this way.

In 2017, the IRS conducted 719,203 correspondence audits [done entirely by mail] of individual tax returns, which is 77% of the total. And while more than 700,000 audits may sound like a lot, correspondence audits often can be quite simple -- such as requesting verification of certain deductions.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2018/04/24/how-likely-is-a-tax-audit/34158273/

Old_Joe

@msf- yeah, but how you gonna write a column about that?

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