9 Top Tips to Avoid Tax Audits – Inspire Tax Consultancy

Tips For Tax Audit Prevention

In this article, we'll cover 9 top tips that will help you in preventing a tax audit so you can file your tax with incredible confidence. We'll likewise discuss which accounting reports you'll need available on the off chance that you do end up getting examined so you can endure the difficulty easily. 

As a small business during tax season, it can now and again feel like you're perched on a ticking time bomb. Will you be examined for the current year? When? How? WHY?! 

In any case, while the IRS surveys some tax returns indiscriminately, most audits are in light of a mistake or error — and in all honesty, the level of tax returns that get examined is shockingly little. In any case, we don't need you to be numbered among the trivial few. Stop the audit clock by recording your taxes cautiously and maintaining a strategic distance from warnings. 

1 - Always File on Time

An easy decision, correct? Yet, in the event that you neglect to file your taxes on schedule, you consequently put an audit focus on your back. Filing on time likewise guarantees that you don't need to take care of the IRS late documenting penalties.

2 - Remember To Sign 

It appears to be an easy decision, however as indicated by Investopedia's Glenn Curtis, an enormous number of individuals neglect to sign their tax returns. In the article Avoid an Audit by Knowing These 6 Red Flags, Curtis says:

Failure to sign the return will almost guarantee additional scrutiny. The IRS will wonder what else you might have forgotten to include in the return.

3 - Twofold Check The Math 

With regards to the sums on your tax documents, it's basic to twofold check (or even triple-check) your math. The IRS regularly audit tax returns that contain math blunders and errors between structures. 

Keep in mind (and this is significant): Even on the off chance that you employ an expert accountant or tax professional, you'll need to twofold check their work. Guarantee that all the numbers are right and predictable before you ship off your tax returns.

4 - Record All Income 

With regards to charges, honesty really is the best strategy. Try not to discard any pay in your tax report, regardless of how insignificant the sum. Report the entirety of the pay you've acquired during the tax year, including any resources you sold. 

In the event that your business earns a lot of cash every year, you naturally cause a higher danger of audit. The BBB (Better Business Bureau) recommends:

If you fall under this category, be mindful of your increased audit potential and take extra time when preparing and reviewing your taxes. Stay organized and keep meticulous records, in case you are audited.

The BBB adds that small businesses should be extra cautious when altering transactions as these can influence the pay absolute considered your duties.

Small businesses should be wary of modifying invoices and payments within their accountings system from prior periods because the adjustments can potentially generate discrepancies in gross sales and the sales tax liabilities for that period.

An incredible method to keep away from this issue is to finish off your accounting periods and ensure them with security codes. That way, just clients with the code (ideally your administrator and accountant) can make changes to old solicitations and costs. Accounting Softwares, for example, Xero and QuickBooks Pro make shutting your accounting periods simple. This software likewise permit you to set client authorizations to control every client's access

5 - Try not to Overestimate Expenses 

Similarly, don't overestimate the sum you spent on costs trying to bring down the measure of tax you owe. Be exact and fair pretty much all operational expenses. Keep strong records of your receipts, and be certain the costs you guarantee are really operational expense, not close to home costs. 

In the event that you utilize an individual financial balance for your business, make certain to isolate your own and operational expense cautiously. Some accounting software, for example, QuickBooks Self-Employed, permits you to isolate these costs without any problem.

6 - Try not to Round Numbers 

This goes connected at the hip with not overestimating costs. Try not to adjust numbers on your tax documents, either up or down. In the event that you spent through $792.84 in office supplies for the year, put $792.84, not $793.00 (and certainly not $800). 

Round numbers can be a sign of apathy, absence of accuracy, and even unscrupulousness — not actually attributes you need to show to the IRS.

7 - Keep steady over 1099-MISCs and W-9s 

Ensure you meet the 1099-MISC recording cutoff time on January 31. You'll have to demand W-9s, the Request for Taxpayer Identification Number or Certificate, from every one of your temporary workers to finish your 1099-MISCs. 

When finished, you should send a duplicate of the 1099-MISC structure to both your temporary worker and the IRS. Adhere to the IRS's 1099 guidelines cautiously to record all the vital forms appropriately. 

8 - Recruit an Accountant 

Our greatest proposal to small businesses is this — recruit an accountant or tax professional to file your all kind of taxes. Not exclusively will this expand the odds that your tax return is right, yet you likewise have a superior possibility of increasing your tax deduction. With regards to taxes, true serenity merits the taxes. 

Here are the top tips for recruiting the best accountant for your business.

9 - Keep Solid Records 

Our last and the most important advice for you is to keep accurate and efficient records. There's no ensured approach to forestall a tax audit. In the event that you do get evaluated, the cycle will be a lot of smoother and quicker if the entirety of your records are open and efficient. 

In the event that you do get audited, here are the structures the IRS may ask for (as per the IRS's audit control): 

• Bills 
• Receipts 
• Dropped checks 
• Advice Papers or Tax preparations 
• Property securing papers 
• Credit arrangements 
• Travel tickets 
• Work reports 

Accounting software can be a tremendous assistance in such a manner. Most software permits you to record taxes, run reports, and join duplicates of receipts to costs. A few software additionally have an audit trail report, which shows the entirety of the action on your organization account. 

Read The Secret To An Easy And Stress-Free Tax Season For Your Business Taxes post to realize which accounting reports you should run and how long to spare your accountant records. 

The reality is this: If you are coordinated and keep solid records, you ought to handily have the option to shield yourself to the IRS in a audit circumstance. Yet, ideally, the 9 hints above will shield you from ever being in that situation. We trust you found these tips supportive and will have the option to utilize them to document your 2020 taxes effectively. 

As usual, contact the best accountant firm for definite tax advice. Happy filing!