The prospect of being audited by the IRS is often seen as a nightmare scenario for many people when they file their annual federal income taxes. On a positive note, around 80% of audits are merely “correspondence audits”, which represents the IRS requesting additional documentation or notifying of an adjustment due to newly obtained information, according to Lisa Greene-Lewis, a certified public accountant and tax expert at TurboTax.
To mitigate the risk of being put under scrutiny or potentially audited by the IRS, there are certain alarm signals you should strive to sidestep. These include recording business losses, claiming substantial deductions for expenses, and reporting large charitable contributions on your tax return. Discover more about how to skirt these tax-audit triggers at TIME, INC.
Picture Credit: Andrew Middleton
