How many times have you been audited by the IRS?

We're on our third audit and I'm just wondering how common these things are for everyone. The first two audits we actually received money back after responding to their correspondence, but this time around there is a huge difference and it seems a bit hostile. We keep all our records together, so it's just a question of comparing notes, but I'm wondering how common this is for everyone?

On EDIT: For anyone who feels they were audited as retaliation for political opinions or actions, please let us know your experiences, or PM me if you prefer.

the only folks I know who were audited - were grad students in the bush1 era when they started going after students for how the universities were counting grants for tax purposes.

Given what you have written before - I would say that it is wise that you have your paper work together -and that you are cautious/skeptical. Peace be with you. :hi:

The first two times they treated us fairly and were not mean at all. But the discrepancy wasn't that much either. We shall soon see if this is just a question of a misunderstanding. On the other hand, it's like a colonoscopy. You hate going through it, but you feel righteous after it's over.

We've been audited four times by the IRS and four times by the state of Kansas since 2000. Being audited has become a constant state of existence for us.

after the SCOTUS opinion. We logged onto the RNC website and sent a message to Bush/Cheney. We told them that Bush was nothing but a lazy slacker and that we would never consider him POTUS. We also accused them of stealing the election and some other things. My husband and I then signed with our full names, our address, telephone number and e-mail addresses.

OTOH my husband used to used to be a department head at a company in Silicon Valley. He retired in 1998 and started cashing out his stock options in 1999 and 2000. He paid a shitload of taxes for both years and then his income went to almost zero. According to the IRS he should have continued paying those huge taxes. We've explained time and time again that he retired and was living off his investments (which tanked in the dot com collapse) and cash on hand.

Kansas basically told us that they were auditing us because the IRS was auditing us.

Are they persecuting us for our political leanings? Who knows. Both my husband and I were very active in 2000. We campaigned in Missouri in 2000. Between 2000 and today we've run several political websites. We also did fundraisers for Dems in 2002, 2004 and 2006. I was a Dean delegate in 2004 and we were very active in Kansas politics. In 2004 we helped organize roadtrips to Iowa for Democrats and we hosted/participated in a number of MoveOn events like the bake sale, voter registrations, voter calling, global warming and Iraq movies.

Is it all a coincidence? :shrug:

your conviction and passion. My hubby lives in the grey suit world and thinks all this anonymous exchange of opinions is pretty shady. Of course, he told me for years my neighbors could never or would never do the things I claimed they were going to do, and then they did it. You know that scene in the Pirates of the Caribbean where Johnny Dep is stranded on the island with the heroine? And the heroine sets fire to the rum in order to hail a passing ship? And when she turns out to be right Johnny Dep says, "There'll be no living with her now." Well, it was like that.

We met a local community organizing meeting on a local issue. We ended up getting assigned to the same committee and we ended up falling in love.

There are times when he's more rabid than I am and vice versa. We may not agree on every issue or candidate but we support each other the best we can. For example, during the 2004 cycle, I went to work for Dean and he continued to work with the draft Gore people. I helped him out and he helped me host a number of fundraisers for Dean. He wasn't sold on Dean until after he became DNC chair. The times that we've disagreed, we've sat down and talked with each other to get our respective views across and then we either get the other one to change their mind. When we don't agree we don't sabotage each other. More often than not, we try to work together as much as possible.

Believe me, I know that "there'll be no living with him now" feeling. But, then, he does too. I am very lucky that we are able to work together so well. I know that. He know that. And we work to keep it that way.

questioning my child care deductions. I had to bring proof that I had a child and that I worked. They even questioned why my husband couldn't care for our son during the day even though he was a full time law student just back from Vietnam. I lost that battle.

I can't remember what the second audit was about but the third was about depreciation on a rental apartment that was part of my house. It was at that one that I looked around the IRS waiting room and realized that there was not a wealthy person among us, not one. Actually, most of the folks there looked like blue collar workers to me. I got money back on that one!

One time the IRS sent me a letter and I had
to pay more in taxes. That was when I did
my own taxes and I paid it, though I wasn't
too happy about it.

The second time, however, was weird and nasty.
I had a tax preparer who was turned into the
IRS for investigation by a competitor. There
was some question about a law or loophole she
used to get me a bigger refund, and two IRS
agents came to my door and spent an hour with
me talking about it. I said I really didn't
know anything about the law, and that I
trusted my preparer. I was friendly and
cooperative.

Then I visited my preparer to ask her about it,
and it turns out that it was legal. She was
able to give me a copy of the page that let me
know it was OK, so I came out ahead on that one.

That's about it.

Yes it bothers me that the IRS go after the
havelesses and leave the corrupt havemores alone.
And it really bothers me when they go after
people for political reasons.

Sue

If they're right, they're right, and if they're not, they should just be pleasant.

The government is very short on cash; I work during tax season for H&R Block, and the rumor is they're really coming down on anyone who files a schedule C.

B. All of the questions are coming from one investment firm. 401Ks that had been converted and one time looks like they're trying to tax us on the money we used to pay for an investment (in other words, salary money that had already been taxed) and a third place where it looks like we may have been at fault because the investment firms header said, "total" but it wasn't really a total. That bit is minor compared to the other two things.

online and in political protests. So yes, I think this very well MAY be politically motivated. Especially since they find my books in order and only trivial things to assess me more taxes on......

The third time the poor auditer was almost apologetic, couldn't seem to determine from IRS documents exactly WHY they wanted to audit me. He was a sweet young man and very polite.

occurred when I got involved with my local community. The last one, well, that's obvious. And I see two of the areas they questioned as big mistakes on their part, and the third could probably be considered trivial. We shall see. The good thing is that the records are so well put together that we could pick these things up at a glance, the worst will be having to take the time to write the letter.

You know, it seems that we have to justify ourselves more than the people in this country who are really doing harm.

a shade over $30,000 that year. Had some major business expenses as a result of a convention I chaired, and I put a lot of my own money into it.

The IRS thought it was supicious, but I had enough receipts to cover most of it, except a few big ones I couldn't locate. The result was a lowered tax bill, but if I had had those receipts, it would have negated any "owed money" completely.

I basically lost about $10,000 that year.

all that much money. You know, if the IRS was a business that had to make a profit, you know who they would be targeting, right? Go where the money is.

About 60% of my fellow wheelies were audited within a few years of becoming disabled and again if they were able to return to work.

IRS and this may be a way to slow it down. You know, though, if this was the case, there should be some public information/communication going on so that the increased audits don't annoy everyone.

Small practice lawyers.

http://ftp.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=105695,00.html

Audit priorities.

their money in offshore accounts? There is absolutely no reason they should be wasting time auditing people who make under 100K per year. I'm not sure how much money you make - I'm just saying - the big prize is with people they are afraid to go after because of politics.

This just infuriates me. :mad:

Though no one should have to undergo a multitude of audits, unless previous audits have turned up a pattern of negative abuse.

Twice was over my tools when I was working as a mechanic. The first time the auditor went through each and every receipt and as it turned out I had made a math error and the IRS owed me another 80 bucks. Second time, the agent took one look at my shoe box full of receipts and the hand-written spreadsheet (this was pre-computer) and said "it looks like you keep good records; we don't need to waste any more of each other's time".

Third time the H&R Block tax preparer neglected to claim capital gains on an house I sold--he just assumed I was going to buy another--and I got nailed for that next year. That was the last time I used H&R Block.

It lost a lot of money that year or, I think it was investigated by the SEC. Anyway, we shall see what happens.

Yep, the IRS thought I owed them 1.3 million in back taxes! Now, I've never come anywhere close to making that kind of money; it wasn't the result of an audit, but some accounting thing that I don't even pretend to understand from my ex-wife's business.

She got it all cleared up, but since we were married at the time it happened--1999--the IRS just decided that if she didn't owe it, then I did. (Reason number 3,456 not to be married: co-mingling finances)

Almost ten years later, I finally got the "all clear" letter from the IRS.

The lesson here for me anyway is even if you will never see the other side of six figures in your entire working life, a good tax lawyer is worth their weight in gold, every penny you pay them, and then some.

wrong is one hell of an intimidation tactic.

and we got more money back!
I love audits

I don't know if you'd call it an audit, but as part of her pre-employment vetting they checked our joint returns for the 5 previous years.

They asked her why I always filed for the extension?
"Because he can."
:rofl: