Close Encounter With The IRS

Is The IRS Really Any "Kinder and Gentler"?

My Recent "Close Encounter Of The IRS-Kind"

Congress recently passed legislation that is supposed to result in a more "sensitive" Internal Revenue Service. You know, not such a lean, mean, tax-collecting machine.

I DON'T THINK SO!

Why do I say that, you ask? Well, right during the middle of tax season (early March), one of my clients (for sake of confidentiality, let's call him "Mr. Jones") got one of those "love letters" from the IRS.

The IRS wanted to audit Mr. Jones' income tax return, and so the IRS just went ahead and scheduled an appointment to meet with him.

The appointment was scheduled for March 29. Mr. Jones was petrified at the thought of meeting with a real live IRS agent without me, and so it was critical that I be able to attend this meeting.

But in late March, you can imagine what my life is like.

I'm swamped with work, trying to get as many tax returns done as possible before April 15. For me to take a half-day (or more) to meet with the IRS in late March is like asking a farmer to take a day off his tractor during harvest time.

So I called the IRS and asked to re-schedule the appointment. The appointment scheduler was very pleasant at first, so I was very optimistic that we could get the meeting pushed back a few weeks, until mid-May or something. After all, I usually take some time off after tax season to recuperate.

Well, the IRS appointment scheduler says that the appointment can be postponed -- until April 19, 2000! I was flabbergasted! I said, "How about postponing the appointment until May?" No way, says the IRS employee. April 19 was the latest possible postponement date.

Some cooperation. We have no choice but to meet on April 19, two days after tax season is over. There isn't much I can do but re-schedule my "post-tax season recuperation time" and get over it.

Oh well, I thought to myself. So much for a more "understanding" IRS.

Now for the really fun part. The audit itself. Now, please understand, most IRS audits are done these days by mail. Humans are rarely involved in these so-called "correspondence audits."

Those big IRS computers can check and cross-check all kinds of information that should be reported on your tax return. And if something doesn't show up on the return that is easily tracked by the IRS computers, then the computer just spits out a not-so-friendly "discrepancy notice".

You then have a month to respond. So you either send a letter which explains the discrepancy, or if the discrepancy is legitimate, you bite the bullet and go ahead and pay the additional tax (plus penalties and interest).

But Mr. Jones (a local small business owner) was required to show up at the local IRS office with all his records. The IRS was questioning the legitimacy of several business deductions -- and so the IRS was doing what it is allowed by law to do -- demand that the taxpayer prove that those deductions were valid.

What do you think happened at the audit? Did Mr. Jones win or lose? Were we able to prove that these deductions were valid? Did Mr. Jones have good records?

Well, let's cut right to the chase! As you may have guessed, Mr. Jones lost the audit, and he lost "big time." The IRS disallowed several of Mr. Jones' deductions, which then increased his taxable income and resulting tax liability.

The end result was not pretty. Mr. Jones ended up owing the IRS a significant amount of money -- the additional tax, plus penalty and interest for late payment of that tax.

Why did Mr. Jones' lose the audit, you ask? Well, I'm glad you asked. Mr. Jones made several "classic" taxpayer mistakes that turned out to be very costly:

1. Lack of documentation -- "NO RECEIPT, NO DEDUCTION".

Mr. Jones lost several deductions simply because he didn't have the proper documentation to prove the deductions.

What do I mean by "documentation"? Well, if the IRS requires you to substantiate a deduction on your tax return, you must be able to provide written proof that the deduction really happened. The easiest way to prove a deduction is to hang on to:

a) The receipt or invoice, and

b) Proof of payment, which can be a canceled check, cash receipt, or credit card statement.

Mr. Jones reported numerous deductions for which he simply didn't have the documentation. No receipts, no canceled checks, no nothing. Turns out that Mr. Jones was one of those "cash guys". Do you know what I mean by a "cash guy"? Maybe you know what kind of guy I'm talking about -- He never wrote a check in his life, just carried a wad of cash around in his pocket. He paid for everything with cash, and never kept any of his receipts.

Every year he would just sit down with his wife and "remember" how much he spent on different things. No way to prove any of this, of course. He just had a "feel" for how much cash he had spent, and he had run his business for so many years that he just "knew" how much it cost to purchase certain things.

Well, this is the kind of taxpayer that the IRS loves!

It really is true -- if you can't prove that you paid for something (with receipts, invoices, canceled checks, etc.), then you run the risk of losing that deduction in the event of an audit.

One of the most common questions I am asked by clients is this: "I know I paid for something, but I don't have a receipt. Should I still report the deduction."

My response is usually this: "You only need a receipt if you get audited!"

Think about that for a minute! Many clients don't know if I am joking or not. Well, I do make that comment with my tongue planted firmly in cheek, but there really is a lot of truth to it. If you don't have the documentation to prove a deduction, you can still report the deduction (if you want), because you only have to prove the deduction if you get audited.

But if you do get audited, knowing that there are undocumented deductions on the return, be prepared to lose the deduction!

And here's the second major mistake that Mr. Jones made:

2. Lack of legitimate deductions -- BOGUS DEDUCTIONS!

Well, it turns out that Mr. Jones wasn't completely honest with me about some of his deductions. He reported deductions that simply were not real deductions. Here's one example:

Mr. Jones owned several rental houses. These rental houses, of course, required maintenance and repair work. Many times Mr. Jones would do the work himself rather than pay someone else to do the work.

Well, Mr. Jones would estimate what he would have had to pay someone else to do the work that he did himself, and then he would report that amount as a deduction, even though he didn't actually pay anybody to do the work!

In other words, Mr. Jones deducted the value of his time.

THIS IS A BIG "NO-NO"!

This is an important point -- you can never legitimately deduct the value of your time for work you did. You have to actually pay someone else to do the labor.

Well, that's what happened to Mr. Jones. I hope you benefited by learning what can happen in a real audit. If you ever get a letter from the IRS which demands additional information regarding a return, you'll have nothing to worry about if you do exactly the opposite of what Mr. Jones did. If you can properly document your deductions and assuming your return has no bogus information, you'll pass the audit with flying colors!

YouSaveOnTaxes.com

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