Who Can Help Me Handle an IRS Tax Audit?

October 3, 2013 by

“I’m being audited by the IRS and I don’t know what to do,” Stan said. “To me, it seems like the IRS targets the small business owner.  I run a small general contracting firm, just me and two guys. There’s no bookkeeper, no accountant – I do all that stuff myself.”

“So maybe I made a mistake somewhere in the paperwork,” he continued. “How am I going to prove my side of the story? I don’t even know where all my records are. Do you know how easy it is to lose receipts?”

Small Business Owners: You Need Help Facing An IRS Audit

When you’re a small business owner, you tend to do a lot of things yourself.  Keeping costs down means you might handle all of your business’ financial paperwork on your own. However, if the IRS is auditing you, you don’t want to go it alone.

During an IRS audit, you may be asked to answer questions via mail or in person. It’s essential that your answers be honest and correct.  However, it’s also important to know that there are limits to the questions the IRS can ask you during the audit.  If you don’t know that you don’t have to answer a question, chances are you will – and that information can be used against you!

Protect your small business by getting the best audit representation available. Our firm specializes exclusively in resolving tax problems – it’s all we do, and it’s all we’ve done for more than 16 years. We’ve helped thousands of small business owners resolve their tax problems successfully. We know how to handle lost receipts, accounting errors, and the everyday mistakes that trigger an IRS audit. 

Don’t go it alone. Our firm can handle the IRS audit while you concentrate on running your business. You’ll save time, money, and a lot of stress when you get the best tax help.

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Small Business Owners: You Don’t Want the IRS Talking to Your Employees

September 30, 2013 by

If you’re a small business owner who’s recently received a notice from the IRS about a tax audit, you’re going to want to keep reading this article. There are three types of IRS audits: a correspondence audit, an office audit, and a field audit.

During a field audit, the IRS revenue agent comes to see you in person, in order to complete the audit. They will come to your home or place of business.  Having the IRS agent conduct the audit at your place of business can have two effects:

One: The IRS’ auditor’s presence can disrupt your business. When your attention is focused on the IRS agent, you’re not going to be able to run your business. This can mean a slowdown  in customer service, lost sales, or other negative consequences. Having the IRS on scene doesn’t look good for your business.

Two:  There’s the opportunity for the IRS agent to talk to or overhear your employees talking. A disgruntled employee can create a lot of damaging impressions with a few carefully chosen words: even if it’s not true, the IRS agent may be motivated to investigate further.

 IRS agents are trained to extract information that isn’t otherwise readily available. They’ve been known to ask questions that exceed the scope of their investigation in the pursuit of discovering unreported income and discovering personal expenses deducted by your business.  The seemingly innocent questions they ask your employees have a deeper, darker purpose. Your employees’ answers could fuel the fire.

Avoid the disruption to your business and reduce your risk of exposure by keeping the field audit from occurring at your place of business. When you hire our firm as your audit representative, the IRS revenue agent will have to come to our office and meet with our expert team. We’ll advocate on your behalf. You never even have to talk to the agent in person!

Running a small business is hard. An IRS audit doesn’t have to be.

If you’re a small business owner who’s facing an IRS audit, call us today. We’re here to help you. Let our experienced team handle your IRS audit, and you’ll never have to worry about the IRS disrupting your business. You can focus on making your business grow. We’ll focus on making your tax problems go away.

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The Emotional Impact of a Tax Audit: Are You Prepared?

September 27, 2013 by

“When I opened the mailbox and saw that envelope from the IRS sitting in there, I just burst into tears,” Anya, who lives in the Dorchester, MA area, said. “You just know it’s not going to be good news.”

It wasn’t good news at all. The IRS notice informed Anya that her previous year’s returns, which she’d filed jointly with her now ex-husband David, had been selected for an audit.

“I’m not an accountant. I never dealt with any of that.  David did our taxes on some free internet website.” Anya said. “Chances are he screwed things up, and now I’m going to be the one stuck paying for it. Which I can’t afford. Which is pretty much why he’s my ex-husband.”

IRS Audit Representation: Finding Tax Help in Massachusetts

Anya freely admitted to being afraid of the IRS. “I don’t want to talk to those people! I’m not good with numbers, and with my luck, I’ll say something that will make a bad situation even worse.”

Dealing with an IRS audit can be a very emotional experience. You may feel scared, anxious, and overwhelmed. A tax audit can spark feelings of doubt and insecurity within the marriage: do you know for certain that your partner was 100% honest and accurate on all the tax filings? Many people report feeling nervous and even paranoid when they are informed of a pending IRS audit. The pressure of knowing you’re going to be audited can cloud your ability to think.

That’s why it’s a good idea to get professional audit representation from a Massachusetts tax professional. You may never have to talk to the IRS directly. An IRS audit representative advocates on your behalf, defending your interests and advising you if special circumstances, such as innocent spouse relief, apply to your case.  It’s their job to get you the best deal possible.

The benefit of choosing a Massachusetts tax problem solving firm is that they’re not emotionally involved in your tax situation. This is their profession, which means they’re able to think objectively and analytically about the case in a way you yourself can’t. 

Why not benefit from that professionalism and get your IRS tax problem solved without all the stress? Call your Massachusetts tax expert today!

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IRS Increases Number of Audits

June 21, 2011 by

Tommy Williams CFP
schreveporttimes.com
June 18, 2011

Now that most of you have completed your tax returns for 2010, perhaps we might reflect on the most dreaded of tax consequences, the IRS audit.

We spend a considerable amount of time in an effort to be tax efficient. Defer taxes, avoid them and use every tool and technique offered by the Internal Revenue Code to legally limit our tax cost. Given the financial struggles of our federal government, it shouldn’t surprise you to know that the IRS has nearly doubled its examinations of returns from the richest taxpayers.

IRS audits are up nearly 8 percent for the wealthiest Americans. This spring, the Internal Revenue Service released the 2010 IRS Data Book. Journalists and tax professionals looked inside and noticed a couple of eyebrow-raising statistics. The first is that the IRS audited 18.4 percent of 2010 tax returns filed by taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes above $10 million. That’s up from 10.6 percent for 2009. The second is that taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes between $5 million and $10 million were also targets. Audits increased by 55 percent for this group in 2010 with the percentage of audited returns jumping from 7.5 percent to 11.6 percent. So what’s going on here? The IRS has ramped up its efforts to investigate offshore bank accounts and tax shelters, and it appears to be acting on its newfound knowledge. It started a Global High Wealth Industry Group in 2010 to “centralize and focus IRS compliance expertise involving high net worth individuals.”

As IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said at a meeting of the New York State Bar Association Taxation Section, “We’re looking for and finding points of leverage, also called ‘nodes’ of activity, where multiple people not paying taxes can be detected. Financial institutions are one such potential node of activity. Promoters of evasion schemes are another.”

Now the IRS has started an Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative, providing information in eight languages to reach taxpayers and preparers who are non-native English speakers. By coming forward about undisclosed offshore accounts, they stand a chance of avoiding criminal prosecution.

Audit rates increased across the board last year. The overall IRS audit rate was 1.11 percent in 2010, up from 1 percent in 2009. The taxpayers least likely to face an audit were within the $75,000 to $100,000 adjusted gross income range with 0.64 percent of their returns being audited.

Experts tell me to do your part to look good. Most audits are not purely attributable to bad luck. Why not do the little things that may help to decrease the odds? Some of the basics are to document all expenses relatable to your business, report every bit of income, claim sensible but not outlandish deductions, avoid portraying a hobby as a business venture, sign your return and work with a really good tax preparer.
If you do find yourself with a tax problem, I’d suggest you invest in some professional guidance.
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide or be construed as providing specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which investments may be appropriate for you, consult your financial adviser prior to investing. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.

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Is An IRS Audit The Last Word? Not Necessarily!

January 15, 2011 by

Audit Appeals

Once you receive the results of an IRS audit – which generally includes a large bill that you have to pay – you have three options.  You can pay the bill, request an informal review with the auditor’s group manager, or file a formal request for appeal.

If you went through the initial audit without help or representation, NOW is the time to get professional help. Have a licensed tax professional review your situation.  There are many factors that go into deciding whether or not an audit stands or is overturned upon appeal.

Bear in mind that IRS auditors are trained to get information out of the taxpayer. The tactics they use are often frightening, especially to the taxpayer who doesn’t know what rights and protections they have.  An IRS auditor is not going to volunteer the information that their decisions can be questioned – or even overturned!

Appealing An IRS Audit Successfully

Appealing an IRS audit is difficult, but it is not impossible.  Prepare yourself for success by having competent, professional tax assistance from an audit accountant, licensed tax professional, or other expert. The vast majority of audits that are overturned or altered significantly upon appeal have a tax professional involved.  An individual taxpayer, particularly one with no tax experience, is at a significant disadvantage when they try to appeal on their own.

The primary advantages of having a tax professional represent you in appealing an IRS audit is that it introduces a significant degree of separation between you and the IRS as well as having someone with years of experience in dealing with the IRS on your side.  The IRS will be talking to your tax accountant, not you.  The phone calls will go to the tax professional’s office – not your home!  This eliminates stress and gives you the peace of mind that the problem is being handled. Your tax professional’s experience will also get you a better result than you could have gotten on your own since he knows how the IRS operates, what your rights are, and how to maneuver through the IRS maze.

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