What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07 soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at their
office. They want to come to my home based office.. My business broke
100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises your odds of being
audited..

My nerves are shot. I don't keep very good records. And the more I've
been researching, the more I'm finding things I could have been
deducting and things I deducted incorrectly.

I just don't see how the same government that awards no bid contracts to
Chaney's 'former' company can ask it's citizenry to be enthusiastic
about paying taxes. ...

We all know how corrupt the system is including the IRS.

"Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" -Groucho Marx

N O wrote in message
...

What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07 soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at
their
office. They want to come to my home based office.. My business
broke
100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises your odds of
being
audited..

My nerves are shot. I don't keep very good records. And the more I've
been researching, the more I'm finding things I could have been
deducting and things I deducted incorrectly.

I just don't see how the same government that awards no bid contracts
to
Chaney's 'former' company can ask it's citizenry to be enthusiastic
about paying taxes. ...

We all know how corrupt the system is including the IRS.

"Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" -Groucho Marx


Personally, I wouldn't go to their office. They get paid for their
time and travel to come to yours, you don't. I really don't understand
"I don't keep good records." If you are based from home, good records
are essential. Surely, you have a tax man or accountant to tell you
what deductions are allowed etc.? At any rate, I feel for you. Good
luck with it.

Cheri

In article ,
(N O) wrote:

What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07 soon.


If you had a CPA or Enrolled Agent do your taxes let them know. If
you didn't, then I would probably talk to one or the other to see what
advice they can still give you.

How do you break 100k without good record keeping?
Forget researching, use your, (or get a) CPA but quick.
Oh, and regarding the no bid contracts: Never expect anything logical from
the gub'mint.

gl with the audit.

jc

"N O" wrote in message
...

What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07 soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at their
office. They want to come to my home based office.. My business broke
100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises your odds of being
audited..

My nerves are shot. I don't keep very good records. And the more I've
been researching, the more I'm finding things I could have been
deducting and things I deducted incorrectly.

I just don't see how the same government that awards no bid contracts to
Chaney's 'former' company can ask it's citizenry to be enthusiastic
about paying taxes. ...

We all know how corrupt the system is including the IRS.

"Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" -Groucho Marx

(N O) writes:

What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07 soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at their
office. They want to come to my home based office.. My business broke
100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises your odds of being
audited..

My nerves are shot. I don't keep very good records. And the more I've
been researching, the more I'm finding things I could have been
deducting and things I deducted incorrectly.

I just don't see how the same government that awards no bid contracts to
Chaney's 'former' company can ask it's citizenry to be enthusiastic
about paying taxes. ...

Yeah, funny how the word "patriot" is NEVER applied to those
of us that don't mind paying taxes.

Ok, there may be no "us", just me.

Well, ok "enthusiastic" may be overstating it, you win.

We all know how corrupt the system is including the IRS.

Based on what you wrote above, I think you may need a lawyer.

on 3/6/2008 8:56 PM Dan Espen said the following:
(N O) writes:


What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07 soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at their
office. They want to come to my home based office.. My business broke
100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises your odds of being
audited..

My nerves are shot. I don't keep very good records. And the more I've
been researching, the more I'm finding things I could have been
deducting and things I deducted incorrectly.

I just don't see how the same government that awards no bid contracts to
Chaney's 'former' company can ask it's citizenry to be enthusiastic
about paying taxes. ...


Yeah, funny how the word "patriot" is NEVER applied to those
of us that don't mind paying taxes.

Ok, there may be no "us", just me.

Well, ok "enthusiastic" may be overstating it, you win.


We all know how corrupt the system is including the IRS.


Based on what you wrote above, I think you may need a lawyer.


Yeah, why aren't they out catching real criminals?
Oh! Never mind! That's what is said to the cops when one is caught speeding.

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

In article , (N O) wrote:

What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07 soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at their
office. They want to come to my home based office.. My business broke
100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises your odds of being
audited..

Sounds like you took a home-office deduction. Bad idea.
As my CPA put it... "they get a hard on the second they
see a home office deduction".

Well, unless you home office is a completely separate
room with no "personal" stuff in it at all, I suggest
you meet at their offices, if you can ;-) You'll also
have some time if they ask for a document that you
forgot to bring with you.

Otherwise, you may have to reorganize your home a
little to comply with the applicable rules on home
offices.

Consider consulting with a CPA or tax consultant.

Find all of the documents that you can which support
the income and expenses you have declared on your
'06 return. If your documents support the first 5
things they ask about, it will buy you a lot of
credibility on the remainder. They might even
terminate the audit at that point.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"N O" wrote in message
...

What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07 soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at their
office. They want to come to my home based office.. My business broke
100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises your odds of being
audited..

My nerves are shot. I don't keep very good records. And the more I've
been researching, the more I'm finding things I could have been
deducting and things I deducted incorrectly.

The audit should take place at your accountant's office. Don't have one?
Get one. If you are honest and made a couple of simple errors, no big deal.
File an amended return and pay a small penalty. If you are attempting out
and out fraud, it is a big deal.

Our tax laws suck, big time. Good accountants don't cost you anything, they
save you money. Get one. No different that paying a plumber or auto
mechanic, they specialize.

On Mar 6, 8:23*pm, (N O) wrote:
What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on *how to deal with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07 soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at their
office. They want to come to my home based office.. My *business *broke
100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises your odds of being
audited..

My nerves are shot. I don't keep very good records. And the more I've
been researching, the more I'm finding things I could have been
deducting and things I deducted incorrectly.

I just don't see how the same government that awards no bid contracts to
Chaney's 'former' company can ask it's citizenry to be enthusiastic
about paying taxes. ...

We all know how corrupt the system is including the IRS.

"Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" -Groucho Marx

Now I'll have to pay for this

So you've already assumed you've lost? Hmmm...did we do something
wrong and finally get caught?

AND come up with the money for 07 soon.

So you haven't been paying your 07 taxes all along?

I don't keep very good records.

Snicker snicker...Good Luck!

We all know how corrupt the system is

What system is that?

including the IRS.

Make sure you bring that up at your meeting. That oughta get you some
good-will points.

N O wrote:
What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07 soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at
their office. They want to come to my home based office.. My
business broke 100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises
your odds of being audited..

My nerves are shot. I don't keep very good records. And the more I've
been researching, the more I'm finding things I could have been
deducting and things I deducted incorrectly.

I just don't see how the same government that awards no bid contracts
to Chaney's 'former' company can ask it's citizenry to be enthusiastic
about paying taxes. ...

We all know how corrupt the system is including the IRS.

"Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" -Groucho Marx

Many will tell you to get the services of a CPA, enrolled agent, or
attorney.

I vote for TAX attorney. Find their national organization and contact a
local member.

The advantage for using an attorney is that whatever you tell them is
priviliged.

In our case, I send a backup of our Quickbooks file to the attorney and back
comes our corporate returns (federal and state) signed by someone the IRS
doesn't really want to screw with.

On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 20:23:08 -0500, (N O) wrote:

And what does this have to do with home repair?

What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07 soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at their
office. They want to come to my home based office.. My business broke
100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises your odds of being
audited..

My nerves are shot. I don't keep very good records. And the more I've
been researching, the more I'm finding things I could have been
deducting and things I deducted incorrectly.

I just don't see how the same government that awards no bid contracts to
Chaney's 'former' company can ask it's citizenry to be enthusiastic
about paying taxes. ...

We all know how corrupt the system is including the IRS.

"Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" -Groucho Marx

--
Click here every day to feed an animal that needs you today !!!
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/

Paul ( pjm @ pobox . com ) - remove spaces to email me
'Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.'
'With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine.'
HVAC/R program for Palm PDA's
Free demo now available online http://pmilligan.net/palm/

There are hundreds of millions of dollars unaccounted for in Iraq.
And the IRS is looking for chump change on my street..?

If you buy stamps for your business and you use one for a piece of
personal mail, you are in violation of IRS rules... So, who hasn't run
afoul of IRS rules ..
Yea. I have a home office. But it is legit and have had one for over a
decade.

And if you're busy making good money, you often don't have time to keep
good records...uh ...that is until you get hit over the head like this
and realize it's cheaper to keep 'em...
I think I'm getting a lawyer. Thanks for all the supportive comments...

"Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" -Groucho Marx

N O wrote:
There are hundreds of millions of dollars unaccounted for in Iraq.

Not a tax or IRS problem

And the IRS is looking for chump change on my street..?

It sounds like they're looking for tax irregularities.

If you buy stamps for your business and you use one for a piece of
personal mail, you are in violation of IRS rules...

Actually, you are allowed to use business supplies for personal use as long
as you deduct the portion used for personal expenses from the business
expenses on schedule K.

So, who hasn't run
afoul of IRS rules ..

Purposefully or accidentally?

Yea. I have a home office. But it is legit and have had one for over a
decade.

Then you should have no problem meeting the IRS definition of legitimate
use. I haven't had a problem doing the same.

And if you're busy making good money, you often don't have time to
keep good records...

Baloney. I make exceptionally good money working 12 to 16 hour days and I
keep great records.

uh ...that is until you get hit over the head
like this and realize it's cheaper to keep 'em...

Organized records and accounting books are a real key to the success of any
business. Even if the IRS wasn't around, I'd be doing it anyway.

I think I'm getting a lawyer. Thanks for all the supportive
comments...

At this point, it would be a great idea.

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

The place to have asked this question is the tax newsgroup,
misc.taxes.moderated.

The best answer I can give you is "NEVER attend an IRS audit
unless there is an order requiring your attendance. Give a
CPA, an EA (enrolled agent), or a Tax Attorney your power of
attotney (there is a specific form for that) and the IRS is
not allowed to deal with you directly."

Better put - don't get into a tiger cage unless you know
how to fight off a tiger.

Dick
--
Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired)
Moderator - misc.taxes.moderated

N O wrote:
There are hundreds of millions of dollars unaccounted for in Iraq.
And the IRS is looking for chump change on my street..?

You can't build a house without making sawdust. Besides, it's not the
Internal EXPENDITURE Service that has questions of you.


If you buy stamps for your business and you use one for a piece of
personal mail, you are in violation of IRS rules... So, who hasn't run
afoul of IRS rules ..

No, you are not. IRS regulations are governed, in part, by the 'de minimus'
rule.

Yea. I have a home office. But it is legit and have had one for over a
decade.

"Legit" is in the eye of the beholder. It may not be according to IRS
regulations.


And if you're busy making good money, you often don't have time to
keep good records...uh ...that is until you get hit over the head
like this and realize it's cheaper to keep 'em...
I think I'm getting a lawyer. Thanks for all the supportive
comments...


You might just go ahead and let the IRS figure your tax. After all the
upheaval, you may get a "Notice of Deficiency" of only $38.42.

wrote in message
And what does this have to do with home repair?

About the same as you have below

Click here every day to feed an animal that needs you today !!!
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/

Paul ( pjm @ pobox . com ) - remove spaces to email me

joe wrote in message ...
How do you break 100k without good record keeping?
Forget researching, use your, (or get a) CPA but quick.


Last week when I had my taxes done, I have a home office too, the CPA
said that new for this year, most of the records and worksheets he
keeps on file are privileged. He did say, if the IRS audits me and I
decide to handle it on my own, without contacting him, all bets are
off, and all of his records are fair game too. Whatever that means.
:-)

Cheri

Malcolm Hoar wrote in message ...
In article ,
(N O) wrote:

What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal
with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07
soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at
their
office. They want to come to my home based office.. My business
broke
100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises your odds of
being
audited..

Sounds like you took a home-office deduction. Bad idea.
As my CPA put it... "they get a hard on the second they
see a home office deduction".

Well, unless you home office is a completely separate
room with no "personal" stuff in it at all, I suggest
you meet at their offices, if you can ;-) You'll also
have some time if they ask for a document that you
forgot to bring with you.


The criteria here in CA where I am, is no personal stuff, and no
clothes closet, so it can't be construed as a bedroom or family room
etc., you can store files and things, but no clothes.If he goes there,
he should be prepared to run back and forth at least fifty times to
get the documents he didn't think about. I'd sooner trap them in my
home, and chain smoke. JK, I don't smoke in my home.;-)

Cheri

In article , (Dick Adams) wrote:
The place to have asked this question is the tax newsgroup,
misc.taxes.moderated.

The best answer I can give you is "NEVER attend an IRS audit
unless there is an order requiring your attendance. Give a
CPA, an EA (enrolled agent), or a Tax Attorney your power of
attotney (there is a specific form for that) and the IRS is
not allowed to deal with you directly."

Better put - don't get into a tiger cage unless you know
how to fight off a tiger.

That's a keeper! I shall remember that one, for ever!


--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Mar 6, 7:43*pm, "Cheri" gserviceatinreachdotcom wrote:
N O wrote in message


Personally, I wouldn't go to their office. They get paid for their
time and travel to come to yours......

Exactly the reason I always file a hard copy return instead of
electronically. They're getting paid to work so why make their work
easier for them. And the old argument of getting your refund faster
is nonsense also - they've had your money for almost a year anyway so
what does waiting a few more weeks matter?

Red
(If quitters never win, and winners never quit, what fool came up
with, "Quit while you're ahead?")

Cheri wrote:
Malcolm Hoar wrote in message ...
In article ,
(N O) wrote:

What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal
with an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07
soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at
their office. They want to come to my home based office.. My
business broke 100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises
your odds of being audited..

Sounds like you took a home-office deduction. Bad idea.
As my CPA put it... "they get a hard on the second they
see a home office deduction".

Well, unless you home office is a completely separate
room with no "personal" stuff in it at all, I suggest
you meet at their offices, if you can ;-) You'll also
have some time if they ask for a document that you
forgot to bring with you.


The criteria here in CA where I am,

It doesn't matter *where* one resides; the IRS rules for home office
deduction are the same wherever one lives.

State taxes are a different matter; since I live in Washington State where
there is no state income tax, I have no idea if home office deductions would
even apply on a state return.
--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

Dave Bugg wrote in message ...
Cheri wrote:

The criteria here in CA where I am,

It doesn't matter *where* one resides; the IRS rules for home office
deduction are the same wherever one lives.

That makes sense since it's federal. I'm just so used to everything
being different in this strange place I guess. :-)


Cheri

"Red" wrote in message
And the old argument of getting your refund faster
is nonsense also - they've had your money for almost a year anyway so
what does waiting a few more weeks matter?

**************************

Refund? Why let them have your money for free anyway? I'd rather pay a few
bucks than get a big refund.

On Mar 7, 1:40*pm, "Cheri" gserviceatinreachdotcom wrote:
Malcolm Hoar wrote in message ...
In article ,
(N O) wrote:

What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on *how to deal
with
an IRS audit?
Now I'll have to pay for this AND come up with the money for 07
soon.

Anyone been through a field audit? Everything I read says do it at
their
office. They want to come to my home based office.. My *business
broke
100k in '06 and apparently that substantially raises your odds of
being
audited..

Sounds like you took a home-office deduction. Bad idea.
As my CPA put it... "they get a hard on the second they
see a home office deduction".

Well, unless you home office is a completely separate
room with no "personal" stuff in it at all, I suggest
you meet at their offices, if you can ;-) You'll also
have some time if they ask for a document that you
forgot to bring with you.

The criteria here in CA where I am, is no personal stuff, and no
clothes closet, so it can't be construed as a bedroom or family room
etc., you can store files and things, but no clothes.If he goes there,
he should be prepared to run back and forth at least fifty times to
get the documents he didn't think about. I'd sooner trap them in my
home, and chain smoke. JK, I don't smoke in my home.;-)

Cheri- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I'd sooner trap them in my home, and chain smoke.

My wife and I once made an insurance salesman give us his pitch at our
picnic table...in October...at sundown.

We were dressed for it, he wasn't. That was fun!

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.

He says the average adjustment is in the 2500 dollar range when you do
this. He goes on to say the average for a field audit in which you
cooperate and do alot fo their leg work for them is 10k or so..

I read another book that said the GAO's audit of the IRS in 2003 and
2004 was failed by the IRS! They could not account for millions of
dollars of their own expenditures etc. That in itself shrinks them down
to size for me.

The more I read both here and in books, the more I am prepared to defend
my 14 year old business and myself. And I , like another poster, during
my research have found several things I should have been deducting.

Thanks

"Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" -Groucho Marx

IRS Audit..!

Group: alt.home.repair Date: Thu, Mar 6, 2008, 9:23pm From:
(Edwin*Pawlowski)
...
The audit should take place at your accountant's office. Don't have one?
Get one. If you are honest and made a couple of simple errors, no big
deal. File an amended return and pay a small penalty. * If you are
attempting out and out fraud, it is a big deal.
Our tax laws suck, big time. Good accountants don't cost you anything,
they save you money. Get one. No different that paying a plumber or auto
mechanic, they specialize.

------------------

One of the problems I'm having is the timing. All the tax people are too
busy to take this on now.

Can I file an amended return while this is going on? If so I will, as
I've found almost as much good I can do as I have errors I can correct.

She sent me a copy of my return. I could not find mine to even see what
she was addressing. Now that I see it I see some are just plain data
entry errors, while others are explainable.

"Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" -Groucho Marx

"N O" wrote in message

One of the problems I'm having is the timing. All the tax people are too
busy to take this on now.

Can I file an amended return while this is going on? If so I will, as
I've found almost as much good I can do as I have errors I can correct.

She sent me a copy of my return. I could not find mine to even see what
she was addressing. Now that I see it I see some are just plain data
entry errors, while others are explainable.

**********************************
AFAIK, you can still file an amended return. Rather than go to their
office, correspond with them and it may turn out to be a simple mail audit.
If they accept the amended return you are done.

You can also explain that you need professional help and it will not be
available until after April 15. In spite of the horror stories you hear,
they can be reasonable if you are also. Keep in mind, they have a job to do
and a boss to please so they may want to "win" something.

"N O" wrote in message

What a time to get this piece of mail. Any advice on how to deal with
an IRS audit?


I would imagine that if you intended to file your taxes correctly, but just
did not know about all the rules at the time, then I suppose that would be
quite a common thing. Probably will be just a learning experience. Might as
well bite the bullet and learn how you need to do these things in the
future.

But if you tried to cheat, then that is another matter.

I help my friends with their taxes. It is quite obvious to me if they are
doing something wrong because they do not understand these things as opposed
to someone who is intentionally trying to cheat.

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.

OTOH the IRS is not compelled to give you an audit.
They can simply disallow all your deductions and
send you a bill.

He says the average adjustment is in the 2500 dollar
range when you do this. He goes on to say the average
for a field audit in which you cooperate and do alot
of their leg work for them is 10k or so..

Who is the author of this book? Do you know whether
or not he/she went to the federal slammer in 2005/2006?

....
The more I read both here and in books, the more I am
prepared to defend my 14 year old business and myself.
And I, like another poster, during my research have
found several things I should have been deducting.

A home repair newsgroup is such a great source of tax
advice! As is reading self-help tax books! When the
auditor disallows your deduction, just say "I read it
on the Internet" or "This book says different."

Do not get into a Tiger cage unless you know how to
defend yourself from a Tiger who is behind on quota.

Dick

One of the problems I'm having is the timing. All the
tax people are too busy to take this on now.

NOT TRUE. The first thing a tax guy will do is contact
the auditor and move the date into May or June.

Dick

On Mar 7, 10:29 pm, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:
"Red" wrote in message

And the old argument of getting your refund faster
is nonsense also - they've had your money for almost a year anyway so
what does waiting a few more weeks matter?

**************************

Refund? Why let them have your money for free anyway? I'd rather pay a few
bucks than get a big refund.

On the other hand, getting even just a few dollars back each year
protects you if you're self-employed (as many professionals in this
group may be).

The IRS has something called "safe harbor": if you didn't pay the
proper amount of quarterly tax payments this year BUT you did pay at
least $1 (one dollar) more than you owed in the previous tax year, you
have "safe harbor" and will not have to pay the stiff penalties the
IRS would otherwise levy. This may also be true for the state in which
you file.

At least, this is what my accountant told my wife and I when we met
with him. As a pastor, I'm self-employed as are my colleagues, but
apparently most of them have no clue as to how to fill out the forms
for the IRS, the state and Social Security and make the appropriate
payments and such, so I was never able to do mine in 2007. Now I have
"a guy" who will set it up for me and explain it all to me so I know
what the heck I'm doing...

As always, don't assume what I say is entirely accurate. Consult your
accountant for the most accurate advice.

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.