Begin preparing for a tax audit as soon as you receive notification from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that your return is to be examined. Read your IRS notice carefully. Some audits concern only a single portion of one year’s tax return. It might be resolved by correcting a math error or a discrepancy between your return and your IRS W-2 form. Other audits concern your complete returns for multiple years.

Your IRS notice will list the sections of your tax return(s) to be examined and the records that you must provide. Make copies of all your documents and organize them in the order requested by the IRS. They may include:

--      All of the documents used to prepare your return

--      Primary records, such as bills and receipts

--      Secondary records, such as spreadsheets, mileage logs, and summary information

--      Prior-year returns

You may need to recreate records. Contact:

--      Employers for your W-2 or IRS 1099 forms

--      Your county for your property tax records

--      Mortgage and credit card companies, banks, doctors, and hospitals for your account information

--      Charities for records of donations.

If your audit is by mail, send only copies of documents and answer all of the issues raised in your notice. If your audit requires a meeting with an IRS agent, decide whether you want to act on your own behalf, have someone accompany you, or have your representative attend in your place if your presence is not required. Your representative may be your attorney, your accountant, the person who prepared and signed your return, or an agent enrolled to practice before the IRS. If not present at the meeting, you must provide your representative with IRS Form 2848 or other written authorization.