Audit Confirmation Letter



Uh oh! You just received a letter in the mail that you are the proud new recipient of a government tax audit! An IRS tax audit can be a nightmare, to say the least. What will you do now? Hopefully you kept all your tax records from the past 7 years…



If you got the dreaded audit confirmation letter from Uncle Sam, don't panic. If you kept 7 years' worth of records and you aren't a criminal, then you will be fine. You will probably be able to provide them with whatever they ask for and it will be smooth sailing with the IRS. A lot of times, all they are looking for is a quick way to confirm your audit and move on to the next person.

If you do indeed get an audit notice, establish some solid rules and let the IRS know that you are not a naïve citizen with no tax law knowledge. Also, above all, do not provide them with anymore info than they ask for so that you don't give them anything else to pry about that will drag on the audit and possibly get you into trouble further!

I suggest the book "IRS, TAXES, and the BEAST" because it provides lots of honest, helpful information on surviving an IRS tax audit.

Some general tax guidelines that you need to make clear are:

Your audit can be conducted at a time and place that is convenient for you. Don't let the IRS bully you on this! Another important thing is that you have a right to record your audit, but you have to give the IRS that same right; that way, they can't change the rules in the middle of the audit without taking responsibility for it. Another right you have as a tax paying citizen is that you can limit the time required to conduct the audit so that irrelevant issues can avoid being brought up. The tax audit book I mentioned above has more rules and information than I have mentioned here.

What if you didn't keep any tax records at all? You better round up as many as you can, and soon! Hopefully you at least kept your tax returns every year. If you haven't then you need to think seriously about your organization skills and sense of responsibility. The truth is, you can probably still manage to scrape up proof of whatever the IRS is asking for, even if you didn't keep records of anything.