American taxpayers get a "B-" grade for tax compliance – that is, according to the 10-point grading scale, taxpayers are 81.7% compliant. What does that mean? The US Treasury loses over $458 billion a year to non-compliance. And this measurement is for the 2008-2010 tax years. A lot has changed since 2010 – and the [...]
“Yes”- and it is surprisingly very easy to do so. The IRS even has a form for turning in suspected tax cheats: Form 3949-A, Information Referral. The IRS also explains on its website how whistleblowers can report various forms of suspected tax fraud. IRS Form 3949-A that allows informants to provide information on tax [...]
Just the mention of an audit by the IRS sends fear into most people. Dealing with an IRS audit can take time and cost thousands. I wanted to share with you ten facts that may help you sleep better as you file your tax return each year. Fact #1: The IRS does few audits these [...]
In 2017, over 150 million individual taxpayers file their tax return hoping that it will not be audited by the IRS. If fact, 59% of taxpayers absolutely fear the IRS and the IRS audit. Last year, that concern was a reality for over 1 million individual and business taxpayers who were audited by the IRS. This [...]
There has always been a big mystery among taxpayers and tax professionals on how the IRS selects taxpayers for an audit. Taxpayers always want to know the chances that they will be audited and what triggers an IRS audit. The reality is that most IRS audits are mail inquiries related to issues that the IRS [...]
IRS statistics are pretty reliable. When it comes to tax problems, it is difficult to pull out what are the most common problems taxpayers face with the IRS. Each year the IRS publishes its Data Book, which gives some insight into taxpayer issues. You have to read other reports about the IRS from various sources [...]
In 2010, taxpayer non-compliance amounted to $458 billion in lost revenue to the US Treasury. Today, that amount is likely over a half a trillion dollars a year. The lost revenue due to inaccurate returns, non-payment, and non-filing is referred to as the “tax gap.” In IRS studies of the tax gap, the self-employed taxpayer [...]
IRS audits are rare these days – especially face-to-face audits that involve personal interaction between the IRS auditor and taxpayer and/or their representative. Face-to-face audits, called office or field examinations, are the most intrusive of IRS tax return investigations. With diminishing IRS budgets and shutdown impacts, less than 30% of all audits are office or [...]
