IRS Audits AUDIT REPRESENTATION The odds that you may be audited may be low. You might not be afraid of an audit, because you've faced one before and/or you keep good records. But the IRS collects in 85% of their audits! This is regardless of records kept or what deductions were being audited. Allied Tax can help with IRS audits; whether its a correspondence, office, or at-home audit. If you've gotten letters, phone calls, or even house calls, don't panic! Call us with your questions and let our experience work for you. When we represent you, the statistic is reversed: 85% of the time you will have a "no change" on your return and pay nothing further. Click here to read more about audit representation. AUDIT DEFENSE If you are at higher risk for an audit, take a look at our Audit Defense service. Audit Defense is like audit insurance. If someone had to hire us for audit representation, we would charge hourly for the work we do researching, on the phone with the IRS, and meeting with IRS auditors. If we prepare the return, and you pay the extra fee for Audit Defense (which is less than one hour of our time to represent you), you pay nothing extra for our services! Click here to read more about Audit Defense. RISK FACTORS Do you want to know if you're at a higher risk for an audit? Here are some facts and statistics: 85% of the audits done in recent years involved returns with a Schedule C. Why? Because a Schedule C means you are a sole proprietor and less likely to be well organized with business finances! If you have partnership income or investment real estate, you are more likely to be audited. If you have unreimbursed employee expenses, you are more likely to be audited. If you are a high-wage employee, you are more likely to be audited. If you have investment real estate, you are more likely to be audited. Anything that is more than just a W-2 and a Schedule A makes you more likely to be targeted. Yes, really. The IRS is known for its "fishing programs," where they find out someone was doing something wrong during an audit, and decide to target everyone in a certain area that claimed something similar. Its not that they think you, personally, are cheating on your taxes. They just think you are more likely to be cheating than the other guy. And so begins the nightmare of digging up old records and receipts that they will require for the audit, and then you actually meet your auditor, which might be even worse. In most of the audits we deal with, the auditor disallows many things that are perfectly legitimate. Its not we get to appeal the audit that we find someone who actually knows the laws and allows what should be allowed. Do yourself a favor and don't try to walk the audit road alone. Contact Allied Tax Planners at 925-248-6800 or contact@alliedtaxplanners.com