How to Prepare for an IRS Audit

Depending on the type of IRS audit you are going to go through, there are different ways of how to prepare for an IRS audit. We have already discussed how to respond to the letter audit (or correspondence audit) in a previous section. Below is how to prepare for an IRS audit if you are selected for an office audit.

How to Prepare for an IRS Audit?

How to prepare for an IRS audit depends on what type of IRS audit you are selected for.

When you have received a letter from the IRS stating that you have been selected for an IRS office audit, you need to prepare immediately. The letter from the IRS usually fails to what you would need to bring to you IRS audit, so you should start with gathering all of the records that you have that are relevant to what the IRS has requested.

The IRS is usually not very specific about what records the tax payers should bring to the IRS audit. Items that the IRS might request includes bank records and other statements.

How Much Records Will the IRS Want to See?

Many taxpayers are worried that they do not have in of records to show the IRS. It is rare that an individual taxpayer would have kept all the records that he or she used to prepare his other tax return last year or the year before. The IRS, generally, will not ask a taxpayer to bring all books and all documents used in preparing and tax return. Documents that the IRS usually request are usually ones that you can obtain from a third party easily.

Can I Hire a Representation for My IRS Audit?

There are many taxpayers that do not want to face an IRS auditor themselves. In this case, it is within the taxpayer's rights to hire a representative to attend the IRS audit meeting in place of the taxpayer. Usually, the taxpayer will hire an attorney, a CPA, an enrolled agent, or the tax preparer who prepared the tax return in question. Most tax preparers offer audit services where they will go to your IRS audit meetings for you.