While there is no sure way to avoid an IRS tax audit, paying attention to these tax audit red flags can decrease the chances of your dental practice receiving unwanted attention from the IRS.
Tax Audit Red Flag – Your Ex-Business Partner Sends Letters to IRS
You’ve just become a member of an elite club. You’d think a hefty congratulations was in order. Think again. This membership isn’t elective or optional, and the dues can be much more than that prestigious country club you’ve been dying to join. Welcome to the IRS Audit club. Or not.
There’s no reason to pay more than what the law requires when it comes to taxes. At the same time, you don’t want to go waving a big, bright red flag in front of the IRS either.
The good news is that the average dental practice isn’t the most likely to pique the interests of the IRS. The bad news is there are a number of triggers, including an ex-business partners contacting the IRS, that cause the friendly IRS agent to take a closer look at your return.
Revenge of the Ex-Business Partner
Business divorces often get ugly. Sometimes so much so, that the ex-partner is out for revenge. Some partners do so by going after the reputation of your dental practice – by way of the Internal Revenue Service. They do this through a “Dear IRS” letter with “You” as the subject.
All your ex needs to do to wave this red flag is write a seemingly credible letter to the IRS. It doesn’t even need to be your former business partner. Sometimes former employees and disgruntled customers are the ones who do the dirty deed.
In many cases, the allegations are completely false. Some claims have been of failing to report income, laundering money, and actively committing major financial crimes.
Regardless of the allegation though, these informants can cause the tax man to look at your return with a fine-toothed comb. This is just one more reason to seek a more amicable business divorce to prevent red flag raising retaliatory letters to the IRS.