IRS Audit??

[Original Wally]

**and paid nearly nothing**

YMMV... Depends on what the issue is. The facts and circumstances of one taxpayer IN NO WAY have ANY relationship to the situation of another.

The fact that you paid nearly nothing shows that your return was substantially correct.

 

[FinanceDude]

**and paid nearly nothing**

YMMV... Depends on what the issue is. The facts and circumstances of one taxpayer IN NO WAY have ANY relationship to the situation of another.

The fact that you paid nearly nothing shows that your return was substantially correct.

You sound like an IRS agent.......... The IRS demanded a five figure settlement for some miscellaneous deductions I took, with little to no explanation. This dragged on for almost 2 years, I was continually sent threatening letters and I responded quickly, then I would wait almost 2 months for them to respond. In the end taxpayer advocacy stepped in and I had to pay $277, instead of penalties and interest of over $15K............

 

[Original Wally]

Nope. Never have worn the black hat. When I graduated from college, I WAS being recruited, but declined. The social stigma would have been too much for **me**.

I DID work in a local CPA office, and took my Masters in Taxation from Golden Gate University. I just worked enough with the Service to know how it works.

Re your specific situation, not knowing (and don't WANT to know) what the issue was, I have no specific comments. Except that you obviously did the right thing - timely respond. Respond again. And again. And eventually get help if it does not seem to be headed to a resolution.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

I've had three "audits" by the IRS, all paper type audits and every case was resolved in my favor. The last one I had was 2008 where they stated I had not paid taxes on interest received. As I recall, maybe seven banks such as Ally, BOA and some local institutions. Reviewed my 2008 return and all those institutions were listed on my return with the exact dollar amounts. The IRS had every bank, etc. and the amount paid to me and I had it shown clearly on my return. Wonder where they come up with this?
Must be that computer generated letter someone was talking about. Anyway, I write them a very nice cover letter and follow their instructions. I submit a very nice packet, mailed with a request for signature required on delivery. Three weeks later I get letter from them, "case closed". It just makes me wonder what triggered that audit? It was just stupid. Must be those "confusers".

 

[MichaelB]

On the day after Christmas, I called the IRS contact number on my audit letter to verify their receipt of my back up materials. The reason I did this, their letter stated that if I did not respond within 30 days of the audit letter, they would find in their favor, and send me a tax bill. I wanted to know if they received my material.

While navigating their IRS phone tree, the automated voice requested that no calls be made in regards to the status of an audit case, until at least 30 days had passed, after I sent the my backup information. This would put me 14 days passed the original deadline.

If I complied with the voice and delayed my call for another 2 weeks, and they did not receive my material, I would be screwed.

When I finally got to a live body, the nice IRS agent had no clue in regards to my case. I didn't even try to talk with him, other than verifying they did indeed get my materials. "The holidays have slowed us down a bit", he said. I am supposed to be contacted in another week or two by an agent that is supposedly familiar with my case.

Stay tuned.

If you have good records and supporting documents you should be fine. One suggestion, though, is to use certified mail with return receipt for all of your correspondence and put your SS# and the case number or tax year under audit on every document you send.

 

[Buckeye]

My step-daughter (SD) was a board member for a neighborhood swim club during a time that the treasurer embezzeled the payroll tax money that was supposed to be sent to the IRS. The IRS agent on the case turned out to be a family friend of the thief. He let her "call it good" with a small payment and she was dropped from the audit. Other members of the board were still on the hook for $1,000's.

SD tried to get things straightened out and get in writing what exactly she could be liable for. The IRS agent was doing some really strange stuff and she was on high alert after what had happened with the thief. She discovered he was intercepting and not properly processing paperwork she sent in. SD finally got to a human inside the IRS who was very troubled by SD's story and confirmed the paperwork SD sent in (some kind of challenge or complaint) should have gone to a separate reviewer and not to the agent.

As it turned out, this agent is basically a crook and a formal internal investigation was opened. Apparently SD is off the hook but I haven't heard any details lately. It's a bizarre story but if it would happen to anyone, it would happen to my SD!

 

[FinanceDude]

Nope. Never have worn the black hat. When I graduated from college, I WAS being recruited, but declined. The social stigma would have been too much for **me**.

I DID work in a local CPA office, and took my Masters in Taxation from Golden Gate University. I just worked enough with the Service to know how it works.

Re your specific situation, not knowing (and don't WANT to know) what the issue was, I have no specific comments. Except that you obviously did the right thing - timely respond. Respond again. And again. And eventually get help if it does not seem to be headed to a resolution.

The whole process is rigged against the taxpayer. With the IRS, you are "guilty until proven innocent". The folks I dealt with were downright nasty and threatening. I ended up being shipped all over the US to different service centers. Then I am told that they are NOT all connected together so I had cases opened in 4 different states. What a mess. Mo wonder the IRS failed an outside audit, their records are terrible. They even tried to garnish my wife's wages while this was going on, during one of the "waiting periods" I endured..........it is a crappy govt bureacracy, that's for sure...........

 

[Brdofpray]

Latest update. I just received FOUR! separate letters from the IRS saying they received my back up material. They will review and let me know by February 15th their findings.

My gut feeling, no live body has reviewed the file. To date everything has been generated by computers. The two month decision period is the time it takes to finally get a real person to review the file. Once they do, this will all go away.

I'm on pins and needles.

 

[frayne]

Don't be on pins and needles nor lose any sleep. Every IRS corresponce comes in duplicates, if not triplicate or more.

 

[Brdofpray]

Don't be on pins and needles nor lose any sleep. Every IRS corresponce comes in duplicates, if not triplicate or more.

Thanks for the reply, I was trying to be sarcastic. I really am not, or plan to lose any sleep over this. It just amazes me the redundancy in this process. It is no wonder our country is in the financial state it is.

 

[SJ1_]

Just got word the IRS is auditing our 2010 tax return. They say we owe an additional 5 figure sum in tax penalties for tapping our IRA's early! I would be worried, except for the fact, we did no such thing. All our earnings from that year, were from our employer's traditional pension plans. I think a computer flagged us for some reason, and triggered the audit. We have sent in the needed documentation, and are now waiting.

Has anyone else experienced anything similar?

we got a letter last yr. that we owed a lot of money. We changed banks
with an IRA CD and did not do a direct transfer so that triggered the audit. We sent them the paperwork and that took care of the problem.

 

[RE2Boys]

I had an occasion over ten years ago where they "lost" a form I had submitted and were attacking me for under-withholding penalties. I believe if you file a paper return, it gets "read" into a computer system. In my case, once I re-submitted the form, case closed. I don't know if they manually enter key numbers into the system or not from your return but a data entry error could easily result in a letter. Have become a strong believer in e-filing to avoid "lost" information.

 

[Brdofpray]

An Update!

Just received two separate, identical letters in the mail (one week after they said they would let me know.). The IRS is pleased to inform me that there will be no change in my 2010 return. There was no, "oops, we're sorry", or "our bad"!

The way the letters were worded with IRS double speak, it took a bit of deciphering to determine that they agreed with our original return. The did, however, reserve the right to reopen the case, if they find anything else. IRS SOP!

 

[MichaelB]

Congratulations!

 

[Live And Learn]

Congratulations ! interesting "process" to say the least !