Responding To An IRS Correspondence Audit

By Mark Randall


If you are facing an IRS correspondence audit, you are definitely in need of tax relief. In a way, you should be thankful that the IRS has not chosen your tax return for a full, or in-person, audit, because that situation is actually much more involved than a correspondence audit. Each year, the government's tax enforcers do fewer and fewer face-to-face audits, while slowly increasing the number of by-mail examinations, which is what correspondence audits really are. Occasionally, this type of audit will involve telephone contact with the auditor, but more often than not, the entire process will be conducted via mail.

The process starts when the IRS sends you a notice that requests some type of information, whether that is a receipt, pay stub, or something else. Most of the time, the correspondence audit is a relatively easy thing for taxpayers. The IRS sends you a notice, you mail in the requested documentation, and that's that. Where problems arise is when the IRS asks for something you do not have, or if there is a rather large sum of money involved. Often, taxpayers do not understand what the agency wants, and this situation requires follow up.

At this point, you should decide whether you need tax relief in the form of professional advice. Of course, if the case is a simple matter of sending in a receipt or pay stub that was missing from the first filing, you have nothing to worry about. However, if there is a large sum of money involved, or if you completely disagree with the IRS's logic, then you had better get professional representation.

The IRS is notoriously slow in responding to mailed requests for clarification, and they are almost impossible to reach via telephone in many cases. In most correspondence audits, the agent who works on your file is nowhere near your geographical location, so a personal interview is out of the question.

One thing is certain, you had best answer the IRS as soon as possible after you receive a correspondence audit notice. Unfortunately, some people ignore these letters, much to their detriment. A good general rule is to always make, and file, photocopies of anything you send to the IRS, or that the IRS sends to you. Keeping a meticulous record will help you in every case. A correspondence audit is not the end of the world, but should be treated professionally, and in a timely manner.




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