Anyone ever been audited by the IRS?

do you make a lot of deductions?

There are several ways your return can be selected for audit. The most common reason a return is selected is if the taxpayer reports income from a closely held business that engages in a high volume of cash transactions like the sole proprietor of a tavern. The potential to under report income is the justification for the audit. A second method is if the IRS suspects you haven't filed a complete and accurate return due to omitted information the IRS knows should be on your return. Another method is if your return contains too many abnormal amounts, or statistical outlayers. The IRS tracks all sorts of statistics and if you claim outrageous dedcuctions relative to your income you have a chance of being selected for audit. Another method of being selected for audit is if someone rats you out to the IRS. And there is also just random chance. The IRS selects a few audits randomly.

The good news is that the IRS has only so many examiners in each region, and the number of audits conducted are a function of the number of examiners. In Louisiana there are currently too few examiners in the individual and small business area to meet the IRS's numerical goals for audits. So your chances of being audited are pretty remote.

You can say that again...