N O wrote:
One book I speed read at Borders says to approach it like some on this
board. It says to turn a field audit into a mail audit. The author says
to say you have used up alot of time and money gathering records and
cannot afford any more time to come to their office and spend an entire
afteroon, and you aren't leagally compelled to allow them in your home.

I've been buying and using Turbotax for years. I'm retired but do some
consulting and take a lot of business deductions. When the program
reviews your return it will tell you if there are any high visibility
items that might trigger an audit.

Many years ago, I responded to their mail inquiry by mail and I had made
an accounting mistake but it did not cost me anything. Also got fined
once by the state for not filing quarterly which must be done if you owe
more than $800. Most annoying is that they waited 2 years to tell me
and I had to pay interest. The IRS audit was also after 2 years and I
made mistake of not noting the date and sent in that year's files and
they corrected me.

I believe you only need to save your tax records for 7 years. I toss
mine at that point.