Newsletter 2015

Newsletter 2015

Audit Types

Audit Types

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Last Reviewed: Jan 2016

Last Modified: Jan 2016

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Occasionally, and certainly with more frequency than a full audit, IRS (or state or local agency) will ask for information on a specific item reported on a tax return. This is referred to as a correspondence audit, and they are generally resolved by mail or telephone in a short amount of time. As computer systems and information returns improve, notices from IRS informing you they adjusted your return automatically are becoming more common. While technically not an audit, they are typically resolved in a similar manner to the correspondence audit.

The more dreaded form, the type most taxpayers recognize as "being audited," is the tax return examination. Here a revenue agent is tasked with reviewing the tax return for accuracy and is given wide latitude in deciding which items to review and how stringently to investigate them. These audits typically include at least one face-to-face meeting between the agent and the taxpayer (and/or the taxpayer's representative) and are characterized by brief flurries of activity interspersed with weeks or months of silence.