Will Your Tax Return Draw the IRS’s Attention?

Businessman,Holding,Magnifying,Glass,And,Tablet

No one wants to experience a tax audit. The good news is that most people never will have to go through that experience. The IRS simply doesn’t have the time and resources to audit every tax return. In fact, the IRS only audits about 1 percent of all returns. That means most people don’t have to worry about being audited. However, if you want to be extra careful and decrease your odds off being chosen even more, there are some tips to keep in mind when you file your tax return.

There are some red flags that could increase your chances of catching the IRS’s all-searching eye. Here are a few of them:

  • You make a lot of money
  • Your deductions are higher than normal
  • Your charitable deductions are high
  • You don’t report all taxable income
  • You own or run a small business
  • You claim the alimony deduction
  • You claim a loss for a hobby
  • You claim rental loss
  • You deduct a lot of business expenses: travel, entertainment and meals
  • You don’t report a foreign business account
  • You cash out some of your 401k or IRA early
  • You claim large gambling losses or don’t report big winnings

These are some of the most common ways to get the IRS’s attention, but if you avoid these kinds of things you might reduce your chance of an audit.

However, there is no full-proof way to avoid an audit, but keep this in mind: as long as you are being honest on your taxes you don’t have anything to worry about. Even if you are selected for an audit you will come out unscathed if you have nothing to hide. Another thing that can help is to contact a professional tax preparer to do your taxes for you. This will decrease errors and your chances of being selected for an audit. Contact GROCO if you need help with your taxes. Call 1-877-CPA-2006, or click here.

Posted in

Why Is Integrity So Important for Building Trust?

  One of the greatest attributes a business can have is trust. Trust is so important between a company and its customers, as well as between the leaders of a company and the rest of the staff right on down the line. Trust can take a long time to build, but it can be lost…

The State of the Private Equity Industry—Is It All Down Hill From Here?

  In the past private equity has been a solid way of investing taking in trillions of capital, but with the ever changing world we live in, what is the state of the industry? Private equity investments typically consist of money being placed in a company by venture capital firms, private equity firms or angel…

How the Wealthy Save on Taxes

  Whether you make minimum wage or you’re in the richest 1 percent of earners, every taxpayer likes to keep as much of his or her hard-earned income as possible. There are hundreds of ways to save on taxes and many of these strategies are universal to all taxpayers no matter which tax bracket they…

How the Internet Became Commercial

  What’s Behind the Commercial movement of the Internet? Believe it or not the Internet was not originally created to share your life on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram or to watch movies, play games or follow your favorite pastime. When it was first invented, the military and research universities were the primary…