Are you just finishing your taxes? Does the thought of an audit terrify you? Read this advice, based on personal experience, on what to do when the IRS comes after you. (And dont think youll automatically get a chance to explain yourself in a face-to-face meeting with an IRS agent. These days, 78 percent of audits are conducted by mail; theyre known as correspondence audits.)
-Once you get the notice, try not to lose it. If you cant find it anywhere, quit looking for it and realize it is not going to magically appear. Call the IRS office, because it will take another month before you find someone who can re-send you the information.
-Read all correspondence from the IRS carefully. They may not actually say the word audit in their request for additional information until about the third go-round of letters.
-Change your address with the IRS when you move. Then you wont have to pay months or years of accrued interest when news of the tax audit finally reaches you. I owe about $3,500 in interest so far. Interest starts from the date you filed the taxes, not from the date when you get the audit notice, or would have if they had your address.
- Even better, dont move at all. Besides prompting a delay in receiving information from the IRS, you run the risk of breaking down your files into various boxes that are scattered in different states. The information you need will be in a storage unit across the country and you will have to re-create figures from years ago by calling and begging different agencies and businesses to comb through their computer files, which theyve probably deleted anyway.
-These are the only business people in the country who do not believe in email. Do not try to talk them into emailing you to speed up the process because I am not sure they have computers, and I have a feeling they are still using rotary dial phones.-Similar to members of 12-step programs, IRS operators prefer to give only their first names and a long number to remember them by. However, that doesnt really matter, since you will never get the same person twice. -Dont whine to your friends about the audit because they are going to want to know figures from you and if you knew the figures you could have responded to the audit by now. Make nice and talk about something that is not on your mind every waking minute.-Next time figure out what deductions would possibly go into the miscellaneous category because it is easy to forget all of the expenses you might have dumped there and in retrospect there really shouldnt be anything as mysterious as miscellaneous for an outfit like the IRS, which wants facts and figures.-Dont forget to send in your tax forms on this Monday, April 18. Why not the 15th as usual? Thats because Washington DC, where the flagship IRS office is located, is celebrating Emancipation Day one day early since it would have fallen on a Saturday, which makes Friday a holiday.-Since there is no getting around a summons from the IRS, keep chipping away at the mountain of deductions you need to justify with a flimsy faded receipt. They are all perfectly legit, you just have to find them again after bidding them adieu just after 11:59 pm April 15, 2008.-Its best if you live in a warm climate on the coast. Then you can go to the pool or beach to get your mind off your taxes when you begin to stress.Judy Kirkwood is going to submit information for her audit some day.
