IRS Audit Checklist

Relax

• Just because you have been selected for a tax audit --- what the IRS calls a tax return examination --- doesn't mean you have done anything wrong or even that there is a mistake. According to a 2006 report by the IRS on tax examinations, in some cases, tax audits even result in a refund to the taxpayer or simply in the acceptance of the taxpayer's initial claims.
  
  

Tax Audit Notice

• After you get over the initial shock of receiving a tax audit notice, it is important you read the IRS Audit Notice carefully. This document provides a list of questions the IRS has about your claim and the documents you must provide. Make sure you understand what the IRS is requiring from you. This requires you understand which documents you must provide --- and the specific tax years --- to substantiate your return's entries.
  
  

Tax Preparers and Accountants

• If you used an accountant or a tax preparer to do you return, call him and arrange a meeting to discuss how he came up with the entries in your return. You are ultimately responsible for the information in your return, but a professional tax preparer has the legal and moral responsibility to stand by his work. Make sure you forward all relevant documents to your tax preparer and that he is present when you meet with an IRS auditor.
  
  

Documentation

• Collect the receipts and records requested by the IRS auditor. Do not provide more documents than requested. If you do, and the auditor sees something he doesn't like, he could challenge your returns for other years. Remember not to be on the defensive, this will only increase the suspicions of the examiner. Cooperate, be cordial and strive to come across as organized and conscientious with your tax record keeping.