According to an article in the Summer edition of the “TaxPro Journal”, “One of my sources at the IRS told me that the Service’s inquiries by correspondence are up 570% from 10 years ago.” I can easily believe that. Our follow up work has dramatically incrased every year as the IRS sends more and more letters and does more and more “letter audits”. It does keep us busy.
The article goes on to say, “I honestly believe, from anecdotal evidence and experience, that 95% of all IRS notices are at least partially wrong.” I wholeheartedly agree with that as well.
I think what bothers me the most is how many people go ahead and pay the balance due the IRS is asking without realizing that most of the time they do not owe the money.
If you do happen to get a letter from the IRS, don’t automatically assume it is accurate. As just stated above, you probably do not owe some, and perhaps, none of the money they are asking for.
