There are some things which many individuals never want to deal with. For instance, no one wants to ever receive a notice that they are being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. An Internal Revenue Service notice of an impending audit is nothing everyone wants to experience at all, as the prospect is very intimidating. However, fear not; the odds are dismal of being audited. Post resource - Chances of a dreaded IRS tax audit are low by MoneyBlogNewz.

Mail used for 78 of 100 audits

CNN reports that in 2009, most of the tax audits were done through the mail. About 79 percent were done this way. About “22 percent took place in person” though according to the article. The office is where the Internal Revenue Service agents stay. They don’t have to leave to work. Since the Internal Revenue Service has already lost a lot in spending budget cuts while possibly getting another $600 million cut, it is essential for the Internal Revenue Service to make changes such as doing audits in the mail. The CNN article used a Taxpayers Advocacy Service survey in it. It showed the language used for tax audits makes it so more people prefer to be audited in person. Don’t worry about getting audited though. In 2009, only 1.6 million individuals got audited. That’s less than 1 percent of the United States population.

More audits to rich than poor

Any person making money is more likely to get audited by the Internal Revenue Service. Forbes reports that there’s a 2.7 percent chance that somebody making over $200,000 or more a year will get audited while there is an 18 percent chance if a person makes over $10 million a year, according to the Wall Street Journal. There is an increasing rate of auditing for wealthy members of society, according to Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. Though that is awful news for Donald Trump, the rest of us can rest simple knowing there is a 1 percent or less chance of being audited.

If an audit does come around

Any IRS audit phone calls or emails are, more than likely, scams happening. The Internal Revenue Service only communicates in an official capacity by mail. Investopedia explained that the last three years of tax returns should always be kept around. Typically a person has a red flag in their file that triggers an audit. An audit will not be done unless it is deemed necessary by the IRS with all the things it has to do. Penalties are generally 20 percent or 75 percent of the tax that was supposed to be paid. These are probably the most common.

Articles cited

CNN

money.cnn.com/2011/04/05/pf/taxes/mail_tax_audit/index.htm

Forbes

blogs.forbes.com/williampbarrett/2011/04/01/chances-of-tax-audit-small-but-growing-are-you-a-target/

Wall Street Journal

online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704530204576239573314438908.html

Investopedia

investopedia.com/articles/pf/06/IRSAudit.asp