Tax Audit Lawyers in Cleveland

An "audit" is an administrative proceeding in Cleveland, Tennessee whereby the IRS, or a local tax-collection agency looks at a person's (or business's) tax filings in more detail than they do in ordinary cases. This is usually done when the tax return has a suspicious discrepancy on it, or if the taxpayer was simply picked at random. It's not uncommon for tax authorities to conduct random audits, providing people with an incentive to be honest on their taxes, knowing that they could be audited at random.

The process of a Cleveland, Tennessee tax audit is usually pretty straightforward. If and when you are faced with a tax audit, you'll receive a letter from the IRS, or its state equivalent, telling you that you're being audited. However, you should not assume that this letter is authentic, because con artists will sometimes send fake audit letters to squeeze money out of innocent taxpayers. You should seek independent confirmation of the letter's authenticity by searching the Internet for the name of the government agency in question, and contact them for more information.

Once you have confirmed that your audit is authentic, you will be required to meet the auditor at an agreed-upon time and place. The auditor will usually inform you about what documents and other evidence you need to take to the meeting. At the meeting, they will ask you a long series of questions about your taxes, to clear up the thing they're uncertain about.

Reasons For a Tax Audit in Cleveland, Tennessee

There are many reasons why the federal government, or the government of Tennessee may want to audit a taxpayer.

As discussed earlier, tax audits can be conducted at random. Obviously, the government doesn't have the resources to audit every taxpayer under their jurisdiction. But, by conducting a significant number of random audits each year, taxpayers are, in theory, discouraged from cheating on their taxes, because they know that they might be audited randomly. If you are chosen for a random audit, and have done everything right, you almost certainly have nothing to worry about.

On the other hand, some taxpayers in Cleveland, Tennessee are audited for a specific reason, rather than being drawn at random. If the tax authorities believe that you have underreported your income, that is a very common reason for a tax audit. For instance, if you claim on your tax return that you make ,000 per year, and, in the same year, purchase an expensive luxury item, the tax authorities will wonder where you got that extra money, and why you're not paying taxes on it.

Claiming an unusually-high number of deductions is another common reason for tax audits in Cleveland, Tennessee. A tax deduction is some expenditure that you can subtract from your taxable income, thereby reducing your tax liability. If you claim such a huge number of deductions that your tax liability has been reduced to almost nothing, the IRS will probably want to make sure that all of these deductions are valid.

How Can A Cleveland, Tennessee Tax Lawyer Help?

If you end up being tax audited, and you believe that you have not engaged in any wrongdoing, it's likely that you've been chosen randomly for an audit in Cleveland, Tennessee. If this is the case, you shouldn't be worried. If you are found to have made a mistake on a past tax return, and paid less than you owed, you'll probably just be made to pay the balance due, plus a little bit of interest, without incurring any additional penalties.

But, there are some tax audits that are far more perplexing and serious than a tax return having a few more deductions than usual. If this is the situation you're in, you should contact a Cleveland, Tennessee tax attorney as soon as possible, to help make sure that your tax audit goes smoothly.