What Are the Chances of Being Audited? Americans filed just over 157 million individual tax returns in fiscal 2020. In the same year, the IRS completed 509,917 audits, making your overall odds of being audited roughly 0.3% or 3 in 1,000. IRS audits are conducted by mail and in person.
You misreported your taxable income.
Math and transpose errors (e.g. entering $64,000 as $46,000) will be corrected by most tax software or the IRS automated under-reporter system. But if the misstatement of your income looks intentional and not in error, your tax return is likely to get flagged for audit.
Audit rates for taxpayers with incomes between $200,000 and $500,000 saw the biggest drop (a 92% drop), from 2.3% in 2010 to 0.2% in 2019. For the highest income taxpayers, those with income of $10 million or more, the audit rate dropped from 21.2% in 2019 to just 3.9% in 2019 (an 81% drop).
In recent years, the IRS has been auditing significantly less than 1% of all individual tax returns – and the trend has been towards fewer audits from one year to the next. Plus, most audits are handled solely by mail, meaning taxpayers selected for an audit typically never actually met with an IRS agent in person.
While the chances of an audit are slim, there are several reasons why your return may get flagged, triggering an IRS notice, tax experts say. Red flags may include excessive write-offs compared with income, unreported earnings, refundable tax credits and more.
Key Takeaways. Your tax returns can be audited even after you've been issued a refund. Only a small percentage of U.S. taxpayers' returns are audited each year. The IRS can audit returns for up to three prior tax years and, in some cases, go back even further.
According to a Treasury Inspector General testimony, between 2014 and 2016, nearly 880,000 high-income people owing more than $45 billion failed to file their taxes, and the IRS is unlikely to go after them. Audits of the rich continue to drop while audits of the poor have stayed the same.
Generally, the IRS can include returns filed within the last three years in an audit. If we identify a substantial error, we may add additional years. We usually don't go back more than the last six years. The IRS tries to audit tax returns as soon as possible after they are filed.
Audit trends vary by taxpayer income. In recent years, IRS audited taxpayers with incomes below $25,000 and those with incomes of $500,000 or more at higher-than-average rates. But, audit rates have dropped for all income levels—with audit rates decreasing the most for taxpayers with incomes of $200,000 or more.
The IRS conducts tax audits to minimize the “tax gap,” or the difference between what the IRS is owed and what the IRS actually receives. Sometimes an IRS audit is random, but the IRS often selects taxpayers based on suspicious activity.
Does the IRS Catch All Mistakes? No, the IRS probably won't catch all mistakes. But it does run tax returns through a number of processes to catch math errors and odd income and expense reporting.
Yet less than 40 thousand of their returns were audited by the IRS in FY 2021 – just 4.5 out of every 1,000 of these returns[2]. This contrasts sharply with 13.0 out of every 1,000 of these lowest income returns that were audited last year by the IRS.
If the IRS finds that you were negligent in making a mistake on your tax return, then it can assess a 20% penalty on top of the tax you owe as a result of the audit. This additional penalty is intended to encourage taxpayers to take ordinary care in preparing their tax returns.
Can the IRS audit you 2 years in a row? Yes. There is no rule preventing the IRS from auditing you two years in a row.
If you get audited and don't have receipts or additional proofs? Well, the Internal Revenue Service may disallow your deductions for the expenses. This often leads to gross income deductions from the IRS before calculating your tax bracket.
The IRS does check each and every tax return that is filed. If there are any discrepancies, you will be notified through the mail.
Fortunately, you don't need to worry about that happening. According to the IRS, most tax audits are regarding returns filed within the last three years. If they find a substantial error, they may add more years. But even then, they seldom go back more than six years.
Audits can be bad and can result in a significant tax bill. But remember – you shouldn't panic. There are different kinds of audits, some minor and some extensive, and they all follow a set of defined rules. If you know what to expect and follow a few best practices, your audit may turn out to be “not so bad.”
In most cases, a Notice of Audit and Examination Scheduled will be issued. This notice is to inform you that you are being audited by the IRS, and will contain details about the particular items on your return that need review. It will also mention the records you are required to produce for review.
A large tax refund in itself is not a red flag. However, if the refund is a result of fraudulent claims, such as inaccurately reporting income or claiming deductions you are not actually eligible for, then it can trigger an IRS audit.
If you do need to make a correction, file an amended tax return, also known as a Form 1040-X. You can use a 1040-X to submit additional or updated information to the IRS and to attach another form to your tax return. Pay any additional tax owed as quickly as possible to avoid accruing interest.