Filing, audits & business
Audit representation
You are allowed to have someone else answer the questions. In an audit, that's usually the difference between a contained review and a widening one.
Audits arrive in a few shapes. A correspondence audit is a letter questioning specific items — often a deduction or an income mismatch — and is handled entirely on paper. An office audit asks you to appear at an IRS office with records. A field audit brings an examiner to your business or representative and tends to be the most thorough. There's also the automated underreporter notice, commonly a CP2000, which isn't technically an audit but proposes additional tax from mismatched third-party reporting and needs an equally careful response.
The instinct in all of them is to explain, and that instinct causes most of the damage. Examinations have a defined scope, and volunteering context routinely widens it — into other years, into other line items, into a business return that wasn't originally in view. Representation puts a buffer in place: the examiner's questions come to us, the responses go back organized and limited to what was asked, and you stop being cross-examined about your own records in real time.
The work itself is preparation. We review the return under examination the way the examiner will, identify the weak points before they're raised, assemble substantiation, and take positions we can defend. Where an adjustment is proposed and we disagree, there are appeal rights and a genuine appeals process — a great deal gets resolved there. Where an adjustment is correct, we say so and shift to managing the resulting balance instead of paying to fight something that won't move.
How we handle it
The sequence we follow.
Read the notice properly
The letter defines the scope, the years, and the deadline. Everything starts from what's actually being asked.
Audit the return first
We review it as the examiner will, so nothing in the file surprises us later.
Respond in a controlled way
Documentation is assembled and submitted to answer the question asked — and only that question.
Appeal where warranted
Proposed adjustments can be contested through IRS Appeals, where many disputes are actually resolved.
A straight assessment
Not every audit is worth fighting. Where the adjustment is correct, the better move is usually to concede it cleanly, protect the rest of the return, and manage the balance that results — and we'll tell you when that's the case rather than billing you to argue. Ignoring the notice is the one option with no upside: unanswered examinations default to the IRS's position and remove your appeal rights.
FAQ
Audit representation: common questions
Do I have to meet the auditor in person?
Usually not. Once representation is authorized, we can attend on your behalf and correspond directly with the examiner. Many audits are resolved entirely on paper.
What triggers an audit?
Scoring based on how a return compares to statistical norms, third-party reporting mismatches, certain credits and deductions, large or unusual items relative to income, and sometimes random selection. A single return being selected doesn't mean anything is wrong.
How far back can the IRS audit?
Generally a limited number of recent years, but that window extends in cases of substantial understatement and doesn't close at all where a return was never filed or where fraud is involved. Your specific exposure depends on what was filed and when.
What if I disagree with the result?
You have appeal rights. IRS Appeals is a separate function from examination and resolves a great many disputes without litigation. Those rights have deadlines, which is another reason not to let a notice sit.
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