Author Topic: IRS audit twice in one year. What the heck are the chances?!  (Read 7329 times)

Jazzpolice

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IRS audit twice in one year. What the heck are the chances?!
« on: October 06, 2014, 07:56:00 PM »
Came home from work today to find an IRS audit from 2012 in the mail.  Earlier this year, we were audited for 2011 (taxes done by "professionals" who put down erroneous deductions that we didn't catch due to being tax illiterate but are quickly learning the hard way).  What are the odds being audited twice so close together?  I wonder if once a person is audited if they red flag the names to look for things.  Luckily we won't have to itemize our taxes again to worry about any complications.  Just curious if anyone else has been audited more than once.  I thought being audited once was a very small percentage so twice should be... even more lucky? 

retired?

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Re: IRS audit twice in one year. What the heck are the chances?!
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2014, 08:05:18 PM »
Just read that if during the first audit gives them reason to think an error might have been repeated over the years, then you're likely to get a second one.  Perhaps a third.

Read that truly random odds (i.e. nothing that causes them to think something is wrong) are about 1%.  So, if nothing turned up in the first one, the odds of twice randomly would be 1 in 10,000. 

It's the error in the first that is triggering the second....seems to me.

Cpa Cat

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Re: IRS audit twice in one year. What the heck are the chances?!
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2014, 08:07:31 PM »
The odds are excellent.

Once you get one return audited, it is very commonplace to get other returns pulled.

I've seen a domino effect from one business partner to the business to other partners, too.

It sounds like there were findings in your 2011 audit? All the more reason to review your 2012 and 2013 returns. The likelihood is high (from the IRS' point of view) that you've repeatedly made the same mistake.

Jazzpolice

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Re: IRS audit twice in one year. What the heck are the chances?!
« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2014, 09:53:57 PM »
That's for the reply.  That's kind of what I was thinking it might be but wasn't quite sure.  Hope it's the last of these kind of surprises...

 

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