Have you ever been audited by the IRS?

[CindyLou]

If so, please share you experience....

[lrprn]

We got chosen for an audit about twenty years ago. Had to collect all kinds of documents to prove our deductions (husband had a home office at that time - he was doing consulting work o the side).

Luckily we are paper hogs - took a whole organized boxful with us to the audit. Answered the auditor's questions and provided documentation when it was appropriate. He actually found a deduction we hadn't taken that we should have. We ended up getting some money back!

If you are asking because you are getting audited, then I hope your experience turns out to be as good as ours was!

[CindyLou]

nope not audited just stressing over taxes!! My yearly case of paranoia! I'm not the best receipt keeper. All is paid for on debit or credit....so hopefully that would do the trick. I am have committed to keeping better records this year.

[Bandit]

I will share.

I was audited by state but not IRS. It was no big deal though. I just had to go thru a lot of paper work & go to old employers to prove I had paid & filed for those three years. They kept telling me I never filed & they did not have my w-2. Two years I proved right away but one year was more difficult.

It was a big mess at first because I did file but one of the three years I only could find half of the paperwork which I keep with Fed Tax. So for that year it took about 4 months to resolve it by going thru S.S., state, even the IRS to get a w-2 from one employer that did not exist any more.
State said that a letter from the employer with a letterhead would suffice but that was impossible because they did not exist any more.

If I had not found it thru the very last pay stub of that employer that I just happened to find mixed in with a medical bill, & went to the other old employers I think the state may have tried to make me pay twice on taxes plus all the penalties & interest. They went all the way back to 9 years for this.

In the end it all turned out nice & friendly for me. I really learned to keep better track of things like that because we never know.

[Bandit]

Do you want me to put yes for the poll? even though it was State & not IRS?

Otherwise I can just vote no.

[CindyLou]

I would say its probably a "no" for the IRS......but state would be stressful enough!!!!

[FLBK7]

I voted "no" because I have never been audited by the IRS.

However, my Chapter 7 BK was audited by the U.S. Trustee! In retrospect, I worried and agonized and lost so much sleep over nothing, really. They wanted a lot of documentation, but fortunately I am detail-oriented and a good record-keeper. So I sent the entire package of requested documentation to the U.S. Trustee ahead of my 341, as instructed. And then when I got to my 341, when I was expecting strong grilling by someone at the BK Court, everything just sailed through very smoothly. My discharge and closure happened as expected, with no problems.

I guess that if you've been honest and have the paperwork to back it up, then audits are just a mere nuisance. VERY nerve-wracking though!

[Peevee]

I filed chapter 13 in Dec 2004 and got audited by the IRS in may 2005. It was a nerve racking time around here. The day we got the letter one was addressed to my wife and the other to me. It had a phone number to call, we called it and they set up a date and time. They told us what they wanted us to have and to allow 2 days for the audit. We was really nerved about it, the lady showed up 10:00 am came in our house and made herself at home.
She brought her own drinks and lunch. She checked bank statements, records from our prior business, receipts for advertising. Anyway it's not fun at all. We had all of our records and they were accurate. She found nothing wrong. She told us, when we filed a huge loss on our business taxes is where the flag came up.
The state and the IRS is 2 different things, just ask my dad, he was audited by both within 3 months.

[Peevee]

By the way last week when we got the letter from the IRS saying we were getting a tax rebate check. My wife was nervous as a cat opening that piece of mail. The lady told us only a small percentage of people get audited. I guess I should feel lucky but I would rather be in the small percentage that wins the lottery.

[CindyLou]

I plan on buying a few lotto tickets the same day I do my taxes. I wonder what's the difference in the odds?