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A common desire a person can have upon discovering they are being audited by the Internal Revenue Service is a desire to get the process over and done with as quickly as they can. This is a natural response to a stressful situation, which audits most certainly can be.
However, it is important for a person to not let their goals for getting an audit done with speedily cause them to do things like ignore important issues, act carelessly or fail to carefully think things through during the audit. For audits can not only be stressful, they can also have some long-lasting implications.
Among the impactful things what happens during an audit can have ramifications on include:
- The ultimate results of the audit: What results an audit has can have some very big implications for a taxpayer. If a person ends up being assessed a large tax debt as a result of an audit, they could potentially end up facing aggressive tax collection measures by the IRS in the future, such as wage garnishments, liens, bank levies or property seizures.
- Whether the audit leads to additional proceedings: Certain actions or comments by a taxpayer during an audit could raise the likelihood of the IRS auditing additional tax returns of the person or engaging in other additional tax proceedings against them.
- How long the audit and issues related to it will actually end up going: Sometimes, careless actions taken during an audit aimed at trying to get the audit done with could actually create issues that cause the audit and the issues related to it to go longer than they otherwise would have.
Given this, exercising care when it comes to one’s actions and statements during an audit can be crucial for a taxpayer.
Skilled tax lawyers understand the many issues audits can raise and the many implications what happens in audits can have. Such attorneys can assist individuals who are being audited with developing an approach for dealing with the audit and its related issues that is aimed at avoiding mishaps and protecting their rights, interests and long-term goals.
Source: Money, “10 Reasons to Fear an IRS Audit,” Paul Michael, April 15, 2016